


It's A Musical!

by Goggles_McGee



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz (Two River Cast) RPF, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Actor AU, Boyf reinds, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Multi, Musical Theatre AU, Some angst, They are all gay guys, boyf riends - Freeform, broadway/off broadway au kinda, but both fandoms have enough angst i just want to give some fluffy happy stuff, but yeah their will be some angst, only some established relationships, somewhat slow burn since i am not a patient person, tree boys, well mostly, who doesn't love musical theatre???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 23:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14681253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goggles_McGee/pseuds/Goggles_McGee
Summary: Connor notices this boy who has come to every show he has been in, in Sweeney Todd, he's cute and Connor's weak. Turns out Cute Polo Boy is friends with Jared, one of the theater's stage hands, who Connor finds very annoying. Now if only he could talk to the cute boy before he never sees him again seeing as how this is the last show.Evan Hansen, who runs a pretty popular Musical Theatre blog dreams of being part of a production happens to go see his friend Jared's hard work on Sweeney Todd when the main actor catches his eye. He gets a chance to fulfill his dream when he gets hired by the theater as a set builder and sees the main actor rehearsing for the next production. Now if only Evan could build up the courage to talk to him.Michael has always admired the actor Jeremy Heere and is finally able to work with him, Jeremy thinks the new sound board director is really cute.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am warning all of you right now, I have an awful update schedule, meaning i have no schedule whatsoever and i apologize in advance to all those who actually like this.

“Zoe, I'm gay.”

“I know, Connor.”

“I'm like…really gay. Like fuck…I am so gay.”

“Connor. I know you’re gay, everyone knows you’re gay. What is this about? Are you high? Because if you are I’ll kick your ass. You know I hate it when you’re high during rehearsals and shows.” Zoe growled out as she turned to glare at her brother.

Connor huffed out a laugh from where he was laying on the floor. “I'm not high, I swear. I just thought you would like to know that your dear favorite brother is the gayest gay to ever gay.”

Zoe rolled her eyes as she tried to apply her stage makeup carefully. “you’re my only brother.” She deadpanned.

“Therefore, I am your favorite!” Connor countered as he finally pushed himself off the ground and made his way to his mirror next to Zoe's. He grabbed a sponge and stared down at his makeup with a grimace, he hated the feeling of the makeup on his skin. 

“Whatever. What’s this about?” Zoe mumbled out as she begun to do her eyeliner. 

“This,” Connor started as he reluctantly smeared on his Ben Nye concealer, “is about the cute guy who has come to every show I’ve done so far, I don’t know if he was here for Davey though. He always sits in the front and I catch him mouthing the words to the songs to himself. It’s stupidly cute and distracting!” 

“Oooohhhhhhh, you mean Row A, Seat 6 tonight? Yeah, I’ve seen him too. Apparently, he’s friends with Kleinman.” Zoe stated matter-of-factly as she applied some blush. “Hey, help me with the wig.”

“Kleinman!? Are you for real?” Connor grumbled as he powdered his face before he grabbed Zoe’s blond wig off the wig holder. 

“Mhm.” Zoe hummed out. Connor watched as she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail before she pulled on a wig cap and neatly tucked any strand of hair that was visible in it. When she was done, Connor slowly put the blond wig on her as carefully as could, he was so focused he didn’t hear the click of a camera, he did however see the flash reflected in his sister’s mirror and turned to look at the door to the makeup room. 

“Did I interrupt a bonding moment?” Alana, Zoe’s girlfriend asked as she walked into the makeup room already in her costume and smiled so tenderly at Zoe that Connor felt he was intruding and turned away to finish his makeup. 

“Of course not, don’t be silly. We were just talking about Connor’s crush.” Zoe sing-songed as she adjusted the wig to her liking and placed some bobby pins in to keep it secure. “You know the boy that sat in Row A, Seat 6?”

Connor glared at Zoe and huffed indignantly, she simply raised a brow at him as though to say, ‘What? Are you going to try and say it’s not true?’ He could not, in fact, argue so instead of giving her a reply he grumpily turned to face his mirror and used some purple, dark brown, and just a smidge of black to bring out his already dark bags under his eyes, and then powdered again. He didn’t think he needed the makeup, he was already pale to begin with, and his eye bags would put anyone else’s to shame, even Sweeney Todd. Thanks insomnia and depression! In all seriousness though, he really did hate the feel of makeup on his face, it didn’t matter what brand it was or the ingredients inside, it always felt like someone had smeared acrylic paint on his face. He frowned once again at his reflection and decided he should probably get into costume, before he could however, it seemed as though Zoe wanted to continue their discussion on Cute Polo Guy.

“Did you hear that, Connor? Alana knows your mystery boy.” Zoe teased. 

Now that caught Connor’s attention. “Wait, what?”

Alana and Zoe were laughing at him, and Connor had to push down his irritation at that, his therapist had been trying to get him to understand that sometimes people laugh at you, and sometimes it’s not as malicious as his brain makes it out to be. He’s been doing pretty good, if he does say so himself. He let Alana and Zoe finish up laughing and looked at Alana expectantly. 

“His name is Evan. He is indeed Jared’s friend and he is the one who Jared has been using his discount on tickets for. Apparently, Evan really likes musicals. He even runs a blog about them. I can’t remember what it’s called though, it’s pretty popular though from what I hear.” Alana explained as she checked to make sure her makeup was perfect. 

Connor was about to ask how she knew all that, but before he could Jeremy, who was playing Anthony, walked in, along with Christine who was to play his wife Lucy and Rich who was Toby. Jeremy was trailing behind Christine who was laughing at something Rich had said, the lanky boy waved at them and Connor gave a short wave back. 

“W-What are we talking about?” Jeremy asked as he walked over to his mirror which was right beside Connor’s.

“Nothing.” Connor replied at the same time as Zoe said, “Evan. That boy who sits in Row A, Seat 6.” 

The look Jeremy gave them was one Connor couldn’t decipher, and usually he was pretty great at reading Jeremy. Connor just watched as Jeremy looked at each of them asking a question none of them knew. “I know Evan.” He simply answered as he begun to put on his stage makeup. 

“You do?” Connor asked.

“Yup.” Jeremy purposefully popped the ‘p’, “He’s my step brother. Why are you guys talking about him? I-Is he okay?”

Connor didn’t know what to say to that. Of course, the guy Connor thinks is adorable would be related to one of his friends and fellow actor. “He’s good. He’s fine.”

“Connor thinks he’s FINE.” Zoe winked, and Connor could feel himself heat up underneath his makeup when Jeremy’s head snapped so quickly to look at him. 

“O-Oh…Well, I mean, um…S-Should I give you the shovel talk?” Jeremy asked with a shy smirk, Connor could feel his blush deepen and a whine escape his throat. 

“You’re supposed to be on my side and not tease me,” Connor said as he glared (more like pouted) at Jeremy who only chuckled. 

“Sorry man, but that’s my b-bro, I think it’s in the o-official rule book that I have to be protective.”

“Older brother!” Christine chimed in, “By your logic, isn’t Evan supposed to be protective of you since you’re younger?”

“That’s usually how it goes.” Alana piped up from her spot on the counter beside Zoe’s mirror. 

“Yeah but we’re not…uh…usual? We haven’t been brothers for long so I’m not s-sure what the exact protocols are.” Jeremy said as he started on his own makeup, the Ben Nye he smeared on covered his freckles and zit scars completely. He made a face at the feeling too, he didn’t care for the makeup either, it was actually one of the first things they bonded over, another thing was that they were both joining the cast of Sweeney Todd at the exact same time. It also helped that he wasn’t friends with Zoe, Connor loved his sister, but she always tries to get him to be friends with her friends and then she gets hurt when it doesn’t work out. It felt good to make a friend on his own, it also didn’t hurt that Jeremy liked to smoke pot with him from time to time. 

“How long have you guys been brothers?” Connor asked as he carefully took off his shirt, so that it wouldn’t ruin his makeup, he didn’t care much about his hair, it had to look wild anyways. 

“About two weeks. Him and h-his mom moved in with us like a month ago…it’s cool but weird. On the plus side, it makes my d-dad wear pants around the house.” Jeremy explained with a shrug while Connor made a face at that, Jeremy had told him a lot of how his father never wore pants, like ever until he started dating. 

“Well that’s certainly an improvement.”

“That’s an understatement.” Jeremy huffed as he finished off his makeup, he glanced at the little container of hair gel on his counter in distaste. “I really don’t want to put that stuff in my hair, it feels gross.”

“I wouldn’t want to either.” Connor admitted at he pulled on his white button up shirt and did up the buttons as fast as he could, which was admittedly not that fast. After that he held out his arms, so Jeremy could help him button up his cuffs and put on the cufflinks, he never could do it himself and he didn’t want Zoe to laugh more at him. As much as he loved her, and her laugh, it started to grate on his ears and nerves after a while. He always felt bad when he found her laugh annoying, but he couldn’t shake away his annoyance. It always took him back to high school when they had no relationship other than avoidance and hatred. Or in Zoe’s case, fear of her brother. Connor hated remembering those times because he was never really himself, he would reason to himself, he wasn’t getting the help he now had, nor was anyone in his family trying to understand why he was doing what he was doing. Honestly it took another failed suicide attempt for his mother to finally put her foot down and demand that Larry pay for Connor to go to therapy. That was also what had made Zoe reach out to him once again, he was very thankful for that because he knew he would never had been the one to reach out. He knew he was getting better, he knew, and he was but there were small things that sent him back a couple of steps. His therapist said that that was normal though.

“You’re lucky you don’t have to put hair gel in your hair, it just looks wild naturally.” Jeremy whined as he finished putting on Connor’s cufflinks. “Anyways…So…E-Evan.”

Connor couldn’t help but groan and awkwardly rake a hand through his wild hair. “Yeahhhhh. About that…I just think he’s cute. I mean it’s not like I’ll ever talk to him.”

“Why not?” Jeremy asked. “I was kidding about the whole protective thing. You’re an adult, Evan is an adult. You guys can talk and if i-it leads anywhere it does.”

“Thanks man.” Connor said with a small smile. 

“15 till places!” Jenna yelled out from door to backstage. 

“Thank you 15!” Everyone yelled out in response. 

“Guess that means I should go put on the rest of my costume.” Connor sighed.

Jeremy laughed as he looked down at Connor’s grey sweats and fuzzy socks. “Yeah maybe go do that.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” Connor laughed out as he made his way to his and Jeremy’s dressing room. He already knew that he would see Evan tonight, and it was their last performance, he was beyond excited, if not a little sad it was all coming to a head, but he was determined to make this night just as, if not more so, amazing as his first performance for the show.


	2. Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some good ol Evan POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update? Right away? Wow must be some form of witchcraft! I never really do this but i loved where this could and most likely will go and i was inspired to write the second chapter right away! Hope you guys enjoy :)

Evan fiddled with the playbill in his hand for what felt like the hundredth time, which caused it to crease awkwardly. It was a good thing he had thousands like it, maybe he should have given some away so that others could have them even if they didn’t get to see the show. Actually, that sounded like a great idea, maybe he could even ask Jared to help him get some of the actors to sign a couple of the ones he had, then he could give some away as a prize or something on his blog, Ticket2Showtime. Jared would tell him to sell them, but Evan would feel bad to do that, plus he wouldn’t know how much to even sell a playbill for. And what if he did sell them, what if someone thought he was charging too much? What if someone thought he was selling them for not enough and got mad at him for not valuing the playbill more?

 

He would worry about that later, he really didn’t need to stress over something like that right before the show started. At the thought of the show starting, Evan couldn’t help the smile that slipped on his face. Nor could he stop the blush that rose to his cheeks. Tonight, was the last show, the last time he would see him.

 

_Connor Murphy_

Evan traced his name on the playbill and sighed. He remembers the first time he saw him perform as Sweeney Todd, Evan had already seen the show two times before that day, and really, he had only planned on coming to the show three times, since that was the usual number of times he saw a production so that he could review the show more in depth for his blog, but once he had seen Connor and heard him sing, he found himself coming to every show afterwards all the way to tonight, the final show. The first show he ever put up on the blog was Newsies, him and Jared had gone to see it together and Evan knew, he just knew he wanted to be involved with musical theatre. He didn’t know how, and he didn’t care what he had to do, but he wanted to be involved with something that spectacular. Jared seemed to share his feelings and they started up the blog together, but Jared kind of lost interest in keeping it up but Evan loved it, he loved getting to share his opinions on shows and to give people information on upcoming ones, and the people who followed him enthusiastically shared things with him or recommended shows for him to go see. Soon enough he was getting sponsors and he even had theaters pay him to go review their shows. It was amazing, and Evan loved, just sometimes, he wished he could be more involved. Definitely not singing or acting or anything like that, he was sure he would have a heart attack if he ever had to do so, even if he did love to sing he would probably have a panic attack. No singing or acting for him, no, but maybe something like Jared, a stage hand, or maybe even a set designer. He was pretty good at doing that if he did say so himself, and he did have experience. But there was another part of him, one he would never acknowledge, that wanted to write a musical. He wanted to impact a generation.

 

Unfortunately, that unspoken dream would never happen, so he would do what he did best, he would review a show and be on his merry way to the next. As the house lights dimmed, Evan smiled as all the conversations fizzled out around him and all attention was focused on the stage. The music began, and Evan could feel the goosebumps awake, the lighting changed, and Evan felt his heart speed up in anticipation, and then the ensemble came out and his heart soared. He knew it was rude to mouth along to the songs, but he couldn’t help it, when he heard the music start up and saw the energy everyone put into their performance, he wanted to go along with them.

 

Several times during the performance, Evan felt like the main actor, Connor Murphy was staring at him, or at least in his general direction way more than the last show. He felt himself blush every time he thought so because why would someone who looked like Connor, be looking at him. Maybe he wasn’t, and Evan was just imagining things, that’s usually how it was. Or maybe Connor was looking at someone who was filming a bootleg. He seemed to have a sixth sense for those kinds of things. Evan felt a little bad about watching bootlegs, or the little handful of times he helped hide someone who was filming a bootleg, but he didn’t feel bad enough to stop. Hey, not a lot of people have the money and resources he does so he saw nothing wrong with providing the people who couldn’t afford to travel and book hotels as well as buy tickets with something they could enjoy. Although, Evan felt like productions like this should be recorded and sold so other people could have the opportunity to see it without having to spend a fortune.

 

Anyways, after about the tenth time Connor looked over at him (or in his direction), Evan could feel his palms begin to sweat and it seemed like his blush was there to stay.

 

Once the musical was over and the cast did their final curtain call, Evan stood up along with the rest of the audience and clapped his heart out, he was certainly going to miss coming to this theater and seeing this cast, but he knew they were off to do great things, whatever those may be. He followed most of them on social media, so he would be informed of any shows they might end up in afterwards. Then Evan found himself outside with a couple fans waiting to get their playbills signed.

 

Even though he wanted his signed, Evan couldn’t force himself to the front, nor could he find his voice to ask any of them for their signatures, but he had a saving grace, and its name was Jared. Why was Jared walking outside with the cast? Evan didn’t know, and he also didn’t care. He was happy to see his friend, so he gave him a small wave, one Jared returned enthusiastically

 

Just when Evan was going to turn and walk over to the subway station, he felt someone grab his wrist, it was Jared.

 

“Hey there, Acorn!”

 

Evan rolled his eyes at the awful nickname, “Hey Jared. Nice show.”

 

“Thanks. I’m sad it’s over but like, at the same time I’m so happy, my body feels like jell-o after moving things with Jake.”

 

“I b-bet.”

 

“Hey…” Jared started as a grin spread across his face. “Since it’s the last night of the show, wanna come meet the cast?”

 

“W-what? I-I couldn’t! I don’t want to intrude, Jared. Don’t you guys have a cast party? I wouldn’t w-want to get in the way.”

 

“You won’t get in the way or anything like that, Ev, I promise. Plus, most of them want to meet you anyways. I talk about you and your blog a lot, so how about you hop over this fence. Actually, I don’t want you to hurt yourself, you might end up breaking your arm again and then your mom would hate me.”

 

“You know my mom could never hate you. She would be disappointed in you sure, but she could never hate you.”

 

“Her disappointment is worse than her actually hating me though.”

 

“True.”

 

“How about you wait in the lobby for me? Everyone will be leaving through the back door, but I’ll come and get you in the lobby. The security guard knows you, so you won’t get in trouble or anything.” Suggested Jared as he looked back at the girl who Evan recognized from the playbill as Alana Beck. He had met her once, she was nice, just really polite.

 

Evan found himself nodding in agreement before the two parted and Evan made his way back to the lobby. He felt nervous but excited, what if Connor was there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated! Also i'm on tumblr if any of you want to come yell at me. If you do i apologize for my blog it's a disaster.


	3. Boozy Hot Chocolate is Good for the Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys talk! Connor is weak, and Evan is cute. Jared is ridiculous and should not be left to conspire with Rich.

Connor was thanking every god out there that the last cast party wasn’t anything like the first one, he couldn’t even properly remember the first one except for the horrible hangover he had after the fact. This cast party, everyone had decided to have just a small get together with the cast and crew at Christine and Jenna’s loft. It was reasonably sized, and it wasn’t like all the cast and crew was going to be there so that soothed Connor’s nerves just that little bit as he sank down in the comfort of the couch. He loved crashing out on this couch more than he did his bed, which was ridiculous because his bed was pretty comfortable, but for some odd reason, Connor slept better on this couch than on his comfy bed at his and Zoe’s loft. He tried not to get too comfortable because he knew if he did, he would be out like a light. It also didn’t help that Connor was in his pajamas because Christine had demanded that the last cast party was to be a pajama party, as well as being buried under a mountain on blankets as they watched various musical movies.

 

“Hey, does anyone know where Jared is? He said he was coming.” Jenna said as she walked into the room, her arms full of pillows.

 

“He’ll b-be here in a couple of minutes. He forgot to tell Evan that it was a pajama party and had to take him to go get his.” Jeremy explained as he looked up from his phone. Now that woke Connor, the fuck, up. He even sat up straighter.

 

“Evan is coming? Why is Evan coming? Why didn’t you warn me?” Connor hissed into Jeremy’s ear, so he was the only one who could hear his small freak out.

 

“In my d-defense, I didn’t know until a couple of minutes ago when Evan texted me.” Jeremy said with a shrug as he cuddled himself more into the blankets that surrounded the both of them, “Besides, now you can talk to him.”

 

“You say that like it’s easy. It took us months to finally talk and that was only because we were coincidentally high at the same time.” Connor pointed out.

 

Jeremy just laughed and shook his head, “Yeah that was something. I’m not saying you have to talk to him but maybe don’t let the opportunity go?”

 

“I’ll think about it.” Connor mumbled before there was a knock at the door, so loud and obnoxious that Connor just knew Jared and Evan had arrived and could feel his heart speed up, and he seriously questioned his health and safety because it felt like a fucking hummingbird replaced his heart when he saw Evan walk in. He-God!-He looked so fucking adorable! He was wearing fuzzy pajama pants that had Christmas trees all over them even though it was June, and he was wearing a well-worn sweater that said, ‘Save the Trees, Save the Bees, Save the Tree Bees, Save the Bee Trees.’ And then it had a small tree shaped like a bee and a tree made out of bees. It was absolutely ridiculous, but it was also the cutest thing he had ever seen. But oh, oh man, then he looked at Evan’s face and he knew he was a goner. He was blushing and giving Christine, who had opened the door, a small smile, and his hair was disheveled in a way that Connor could tell her rushed to pull on the sweater. It also looked incredibly soft and his eyes. Man, his eyes were gorgeous, and so blue, and staring right at him…….Oh god, he was staring at Connor.

 

At this point, Connor felt like he was put on autopilot because he could feel himself give the other boy a small wave, one that was returned along with the softest smile that had ever been directed towards Connor.

 

“I’m fucked.” Connor whispered to himself.

 

He was snapped out of his daze from Jeremy’s laughter. “S-Sounds about right.” He responded as he patted Connor’s shoulder before he stood up from his spot on the couch and walked over to Evan who smiled at Jeremy. The two didn’t hug or anything but they did give each other a rather awkward fist bump. The two continued to talk as they made their way over to the couch. Where Connor currently was. Oh god, Evan was walking in his direction. Okay now he was sitting right next to him where Jeremy had been sitting.

 

“I-I’ll go grab you a hot chocolate Ev, I’ll b-be right back.” Jeremy said as he scurried off to the kitchen, not before Connor noticed him looking far too happy to be going to the kitchen when not two minutes ago Rich had asked Jeremy to get him the weird chocolate booze, so he could “spice” up his hot chocolate and Jeremy’s only response was a petulant no and him burying himself under the blankets out of sight. Connor followed Jeremy’s line of sight and saw the new sound director, Michael or something like that. Jeremy smiled at him when he walked into the kitchen and was that a blush? It was indeed!

 

“You d-did really w-well tonight. Not saying you d-didn’t do good all the other nights! But tonight s-seemed exceptionally good!” Connor heard a small voice beside him say. Oh yeah, he kind of forgot Evan was there, how could he forgot the cutest fucking thing to grace this hellish earth? It also seemed like stuttering was part of the family despite the two not being actually related.

 

“Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Connor answered softly and politely, he felt like if he spoke up he might spook the boy away. The boy who was fiddling with the too-long sleeves of his sweater.

 

“I love it!” Evan suddenly lit up. “The choreography, the cast, the set, it was amazing! And the way you got into character, it was like I could feel every emotion you were, because you were Sweeney the moment you walked onto stage. I’m rambling, aren’t I? I-I have a bad habit of rambling when I’m n-nervous, which is like, all the time.”

 

The more Evan spoke after he realized he was rambling, the more he shrunk in on himself, almost to a Jeremy level where he looked about ready to dive into the blankets. “It’s alright, really. So…uh…Jeremy mentioned you run a blog.”

 

Evan looked extremely grateful at the topic change and Connor couldn’t help but smile when he saw the twinkle in Evan’s eye at the mention of his blog. “Yeah, I do. It’s called Ticket2Showtime-“

 

“OH MY GOD! You run Ticket2Showtime!” Christine yelled out in glee as she raced from her spot talking to Zoe over to Evan and Connor. Evan nearly jumped off the couch at her yell and Connor had the oddest urge to just wrap the guy in all the blankets they had and just hold him.

 

Evan nodded as a response.

 

Christine let out a squeal and did a little dance. “I love your blog! I’ve been following you since the beginning! I can’t believe you’re here! I mean I kind of can, Jared knows a vast variety of people. Jared why did you never mention that the blog your friend ran was the Ticket2Showtime?” Christine asked accusingly as she whipped her head to look over at Jared who was standing with Rich who was pouring the weird chocolate booze into both of their hot chocolates. Seriously why were they drinking hot chocolates when it was June? It was insane, but Connor wasn’t going to complain because Christine made the best hot chocolate ever.

 

Connor heard Evan let out a little sigh now that Christine’s attention wasn’t on him. “Sorry about her. She gets really excited when she meets someone who loves musical theatre.” Connor explained.

 

Evan gave him another shy smile. “It’s okay… Jeremy warned me she m-might react like that. I thought I w-was prepared but I guess not.”

 

“No one is ever prepared for Christine Canigula.”

 

“I understand that n-now.” Evan said with a small laugh, one Connor took pride in.

 

Jeremy arrived with a cup of hot chocolate for Evan. “I’m warning you now Ev, Rich and Jared spiked your drink before I brought it out. You don’t have to drink it but I was too l-lazy to make you a n-new one.”

 

Evan simply shrugged, “It’s okay Jer.” And then he was sipping at his drink, he made a face that said he could definitely taste just how spiked his drink was.

 

“Bitches we’re watching Newsies!!!” Jared yelled out as he took control of the remote. This was going to be a long night, but it might not be all that bad if Evan was there to keep Connor preoccupied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Kudos and comments make me happy and are much appreciated! <3


	4. Everyone Wants to be a Newsie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drunk shenanigans are had and Evan's crush just keeps getting worse and worse

Evan didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at the ‘Cozy Cast Party,’ that’s what Jared had called it anyways, but he certainly didn’t expect to get to talk to Connor or watch as people got drunk due to that guy Rich and Jared spiking the hot chocolate. How they managed to do that every time Christine made more for everyone was a mystery, even though the others swore they were watching the two. Evan didn’t fight it though, he just took the longest time to drink his hot chocolate, which meant he was probably the soberest person there besides Connor who refused to drink more than the one cup he already had. Both were watching in amusement as Jared was trying to dance along to the King of New York choreography, key word being ‘trying.’

 

Connor was laughing at Jared’s attempts, “He’s just hopping in place!” He exclaimed.

 

“Oh, like you could do better Murphy!” Jared laughed as he plopped himself into Alana’s lap who had been talking to her girlfriend before she had been so rudely interrupted. Evan chuckled when Alana shoved Jared off her lap as gently as she could. Even when drunk she tried to be polite it seemed.

 

“I actually can, Kleinman.” Connor retorted as he placed his arms on the back of the couch, one was nearly touching Evan’s shoulder. At Connor’s bold statement Evan raised a brow and looked at him in a silent question, as well as a silent warning not to rile up Jared or challenge him when he was drunk.

 

“Prove it!” Jared yelled, not bothering to get off the floor.

 

Evan’s eyes widened as he looked from Connor to Jared who were caught in a staring game. It was broken by Connor who smirked, and did it get hot in here? Evan was sure it got hot in here because his face felt like it was on fire. Who gave Connor the right to be that attractive? Seriously? And then, oh man, and then Connor had the audacity to turn to Evan and wink at him as he got off the couch and piled his blankets on Evan and walked to stand to the side of the TV, where he couldn’t see the choreography.

 

“Rewind it to the beginning then Kleinman and prepare to eat your words.” Connor chuckled as he stretched himself a little and there was no way Evan could look away from him now.

 

Jared did what was asked of him slowly but surely. He was looking smug the whole while and Evan just had this feeling that he was indeed going to eat his words. He watched as Jared got to the right place and took out his phone, he was always ready to record.

 

“Alright Murphy and go!” Jared yelled out like an announcer and pressed play.

 

Evan was confused why Connor put up a finger and said, “One minute. Jake come help me pull the kitchen table over here!” It looked like he wasn’t the only one confused but Jared simply pressed pause and waited. It didn’t take long for the two of them to move the table closer to the TV and for Connor to grab a chair.

 

“What are you doing weirdo?” Jared asked as Connor plopped himself in the chair and pulled his hair back into a ponytail and put on his Converse.

 

“Setting the scene.”

 

“Ugh, actors.”

 

“Jared…you’re an actor.” Jenna stated blandly.

 

“I'm a stage hand who disguises himself as part of the ensemble.”

 

“You’re my understudy too, Dude.” Jeremy laughed.

 

“Technicalities.” Jared said with a wave of his hand. “You ready to humiliate yourself, Murphy?”

 

“I'm ready to humiliate you, Kleinman.” Connor shot back. He sent Evan another wink and Evan felt his face heat up all over again.

 

Evan caught Zoe's smirk as Jared started up the part again, she knew something they all didn’t, and it looked like Alana knew that something as well. Evan put his attention back on Connor and watched as he did the scene. At first he didn’t know which Newsie he was playing out until he looked at the back and when Connor jumped up on the table at the same time that the Newsie called Mike did. And yeah, Connor was really good, and did Evan find that a turn on? Maybe! But could you blame him? He watched him absolutely kill the routine and he was smiling and Evan could tell he was enjoying himself, and then the song ended, and Evan was the first to clap.

 

Jared needed to close his mouth if he didn’t want to catch any flies in it. Connor laughed as he sat back down next to Evan.

 

“How the hell did you do that!?” Jared shrieked as he finally stopped recording.

 

“Oh, did I forget to mention?” Connor asked innocently. “I was in Newsies when it first opened up.”

 

“What?” Jared yelled as he slumped further on the floor. “No fair. I wanted to be a Newsie ever since Evan and I saw it back in college when I still went.”

 

“Dude I would kill to be Spot!” Rich yelled out before he erupted into giggles when he heard his lisp. Jake, his boyfriend was absolutely besotted.

 

“You would make an amazing Spot, babe.” He said.

 

“Y-You’ve got the arms for it.” Jeremy chimed in. “I always wanted to be D-Davey or Race.”

 

“I c-could see you as a Davey, Jer.” Evan mumbled out.

 

“I could too!” Christine said.

 

“And you? Which Newsie did you want to be?” Connor asked Evan as he covered himself in some blankets again.

 

Evan played with the edges of his sleeves and looked down at his lap, hoping that would help Connor not notice his extreme blush. “I always really liked Crutchie.”

 

“He had the biggest crush on Jack for a long time though!” Jared yelled, making Evan’s blush darken, he couldn’t even argue with Jared because it was true. The first time Evan and Jared saw Newsies, Evan blushed every time Jack Kelly was on stage.

 

“Really, now?” Connor leaned in a bit closer to Evan as his smirk grew. All Evan could do was squeak and nod, he didn’t even try to lean away from the other boy. “I understudied that role and even got to be Jack a handful of times.” If Evan didn’t know any better, he would think that Connor was flirting with him. But that’s ridiculous right? Right? There’s just no way…But then again, he didn’t back away and still hasn’t and he threw Evan another wink and maybe…just maybe, he is flirting with Evan.

 

“T-That’s amazing…” Evan whispered back.

 

The atmosphere around them was shattered when Jared draped himself on Evan’s lap and pointed at Jenna who now had the remote. “I demand we watch Shrek!”

 

“The musical or the movie?” Rich asked as he cuddled up against Jake on the other couch.

 

“Both!” Jared declared before he got off Evan and went to sit in one of the arm chairs. Evan sighed in relief, he loved Jared, truly he did, but he wasn’t all that great at handling Drunk Jared. Everyone calmed down once again and got comfy as Jenna went in search of the musical for them to watch. He didn’t know when but at some point Evan had started to lean on Connor but he was too tired to really process that little bit of information, as well as the fact that Connor turned so Evan was more comfortable as well as tucking his blankets more securely around them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day!


	5. He's (They Are) Growing Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Jeremy talk about Evan as Evan sleeps away blissfully.

At this point the musical was almost over and Connor had to pee, but he couldn’t move! Okay, well, he could but then he would be a dick. No, he would be worse than a dick. He wouldn’t move because Evan Fucking Adorable Hansen was sleeping on Connor, at first it was just him leaning on his shoulder but then Connor shifted so that his back was on the armrest which caused Evan to slump more on him. His head was on his chest with one arm curled up to his chest and the other hanging off the couch. And he was so fucking cute, Connor had to resist the urge to take a picture. He was hoping everyone was too distracted by the musical to notice the two, but of course that wouldn’t happen.

 

“Aww, my little boy is growing up!” Jared squealed as he turned around and noticed Evan softly snoring away on Connor’s chest. Which made everyone turn around to look at the two.

 

Connor could feel himself blush as he glared at everyone. “Please say that louder Kleinman, by all means.” He hissed/whispered when Evan made a small noise and further nuzzled into Connor’s chest. He held his breath and didn’t release it until he could hear Evan softly snoring away. He was determined not to let anyone wake up Evan, he felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he wouldn’t give it up for anything if it meant Evan got to sleep on without a care.

 

Everyone was staring at him with matching smug smiles, Zoe’s being the smuggest of them all. All he could think to do was blush and glare at each of them, the glare only got more and more intense as each of them took out their phones and took pictures. He managed to flip some of them off as they did so he felt a little accomplished. Once the impromptu photo shoot everyone seemed to get their fill and their attention returned to the TV as Jared put on Shrek.

 

“Heidi’s going to be so happy.” Jeremy whispered to Connor with a smirk.

 

“Who’s Heidi?”

 

“That’s his…our mom.” Jeremy corrected himself as he opened up his messages on his phone and searched for whoever he wanted to send a message to.

 

“Please, please, please tell me you’re not sending her a picture of us, Jer.”

 

“…I promise no such thing.”

 

“Jeremy Heere, I enact the Little Helpers Code right here right now! You cannot send a pic of us to his mom-your guys mom-ugh, you know what I mean.” Connor whispered out to a highly amused Jeremy, who gave out a low whistle.

 

“This must be a pretty big deal if you’re enacting the Little Helpers Code…Fine! But you owe me. You’re lucky you have the Little Helpers Code privilege in your sleeve.” Jeremy responded and stuck out his tongue at Connor who simply flipped him off. “Love you too.”

 

“God you’re an ass, Heere.”

 

“Proud of it.”

 

“And god what an ass.” Connor heard someone say under their breath as the passed the couch to the kitchen, he turned his head to see the new sound director who made eye contact with him and blushed and continued on to the kitchen. Connor looked at Jeremy to see if he heard what the guy had said, but evidently, he did not and was just looking at Connor for a response. When he didn’t get one right away he raised an eyebrow at Connor, somewhat to say, ‘You okay, dude?’

 

“I’m actually surprised he even fell asleep near you, let alone on you.” Jeremy said as he dragged over a bean bag, his bean bag, he had a bean bag placed in all his friends houses just so he would have a designated place to sit.

 

“Really? Why? He seemed pretty tired to begin with.”

 

“E-Evan’s always tired. That’s just a fact. A-Anxiety will do that dude.”

 

“Anyways…” Connor urged his friend to continue so that he could distract himself from the fact he still needed to pee.

 

“Anyways, it took him like a whole week to finally trust me enough to sleep in the same room as me.”

 

“Did…Did he not sleep that whole week?”

 

“Nope. And neither did I.” Jeremy stated as he threw a piece of popcorn in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully as he looked at TV, not really paying attention but just so he could focus on something. He did that a lot when he was too lazy or anxious to look at someone, he always had his body positioned to face whoever he was speaking to though, so they would know he was listening.

 

“Why not?” Connor was perplexed by the thought that neither of them slept for like a week simply because they were anxious, well not anxious he now knew they both had anxiety. Okay, he knew Jeremy did but now he knew Evan has it as well.

 

“I didn’t even know h-he existed until my dad told me he was getting m-married and I guess it was the same for Ev. Once we got to know each other it got better, and we could actually hold a conversation. Our first conversation was about trees. Trees, Connor. I don’t even know hoe it happened.”

 

“Trees?”

 

“Yes. Trees. Evan loves trees.”

 

Connor filed that little bit of information away for another day. “Interesting. Continue.”

 

“O-Oh yeah, so things were going g-great, and then next thing you know my dad tells me, E-Evan and Heidi are moving in with us, our house has three rooms, so I-I thought it would be fine and Evan would get his own r-room…” Jeremy trailed off and Connor could see him biting at his nails, so he gently batted his friends hands away from his mouth. “But the downstairs room, which I thought was going to be Evan’s room kind of became the s-storage room for Heidi’s and Evan’s things. And for w-whatever reason, I think they were on drugs or something, either that or it was actually aliens, but my dad and Heidi decided that Evan and I should room together to get to know each other better.”

 

“You guys are in your twenties and they made you room together?” Connor asked, his voice going slightly above a whisper in his shock. Even his parents wouldn’t have done that.

 

“Mhm. Apparently, it was supposed to help us bond or w-whatever. We have separate rooms now but that first week we were too nervous and what not, a-and we didn’t sleep. There was this one night where we j-just stared at each other and kept saying g-goodnight, but neither of us l-laid down and so for the w-whole night till morning we just said goodnight to each other.”

 

Connor couldn’t hold back his laugh at that point and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he heard Evan groan in protest to being moved, even if it was slightly. Connor held his breath as he looked down to see Evan blinking blearily at him. “Hi…”

 

“No.” Was all Evan said before he promptly fell back asleep.

 

Connor just looked at him and then at Jeremy and then back at Evan. Jeremy looked like he wanted to bust out laughing. Thank fucking god he didn’t, he would have woken up the entire room. It seemed like as they got carried away in their conversation, everyone fell asleep except for Mr. sound director who kept not to subtly glancing at Jeremy. Connor just chuckled softly and decided if he was truly stuck like this, he might as well get comfortable.

 

“I’m g-glad he’s sleeping though, we’ve been busy looking for a loft for us to rent, Heidi and my dad were very happy to hear we wanted to live together but both are sad we’re “leaving the nest.” Oh, and he’s also been working nonstop lately.” Jeremy mumbled as he stole a blanket from Connor and draped it on himself.

 

“What does he do besides his blog?”

 

“Hm? Oh, he likes to help b-build set pieces and such. He’s really good at it, and he does it for free for high school productions, they all love Evan.” Jeremy said around a yawn. “Of course, he charges for b-bigger theatres. But he always f-feels bad when he does. Which is ridiculous.”

 

“That’s amazing.” Connor whispered as he yawned as well and all of a sudden it hit him just how tired he felt. His eye lids felt impossibly heavy and his limbs felt much the same, it made him feel like a puppet trying to move without strings. Connor faintly registered himself telling Jeremy goodnight and receiving a reply before he fell into one of the deepest sleeps he’s ever had. When he woke up he would have to think about why it was so easy for him to fall asleep with Evan there, and he might freak out about it, he would most definitely yearn for it to happen again, but for the time being he just snuggled closer to Evan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day shine brighter!!


	6. Two-Player Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some of Jer's POV!!

Jeremy chuckled softly to himself as he took yet another picture of Connor and Evan, somehow, they managed to snuggle even closer together once Connor had fallen asleep. He didn’t even know how it was possible, but it happened, and he wasn’t going to waste this perfect picture opportunity since everyone was lame asses and fell asleep as soon as the clock struck double digits. Okay, maybe not as soon as, but it still didn’t take them very long to fall asleep.

 

Jeremy sighed as he looked at the time on his phone, he knew he was going to be up for a couple more hours, or so he hoped. He was very much a night owl, even when he tried to give himself a better sleep schedule, it didn’t last. They never do, and yet he still tries to make them and stick to them. He blames it on his early teen years where he trained himself to stay up late and pull all-nighters for video games and occasionally homework. It was worse in high school, but that was also just in general something he didn’t like to purposefully remember, especially junior year…And yep, he was thinking about it. Fuck!

 

He swung his head back and forth viciously, only making his, what he liked to call his permanent bed head, worse. He didn’t even attempt to fix it, he just let it be. Sometimes if he felt particularly motivated he would ask Heidi to help him tame the damn beast, but he didn’t do that often, even though he liked when Heidi would smile at him and make him sit on her and his dad’s bed and how she would gently comb through his hair, making sure she didn’t snag on a tangle too hard. It was something he quickly came to love. The first time it happened was actually the wedding day, Jeremy was freaking out about being his dad’s best man because that meant he had to be in front of so many people! And before someone make the, “Oh, well, aren’t you an actor Jeremy? Shouldn’t you be used to people watching your every move?”, comment. To Jeremy there’s a difference, he still has social anxiety but on stage, he’s not Jeremy Heere, he’s whoever he wants to be, whoever he needs to be. He gets to escape his reality and enter a new one and he loves it, he really does, it also helps that he’s good at it. Anyways, the day of the wedding, Jeremy had been freaking out when he was getting ready and so was Evan, and neither of them was even trying to calm the other down which just supercharged the air around them, so it’s easy to understand that Jeremy, in all his panicked glory forgot to even attempt to comb his hair. So of course, that would be when Heidi walked in looking nothing short of a goddess of happiness and hope, to check up on the two. Jeremy is thankful she didn’t laugh at them, because it looked like she really really wanted to. She simply walked in, helped Evan tie his bow tie, and grabbed a brush and gently pushed Jeremy into a chair. Then she combed his hair. It was weird, it was the most physical contact the two had ever had, but it wasn’t bad. Jeremy could remember when his own mom would comb his hair before she left, but it had never been as gentle as Heidi had done it. When his mom had combed his hair, she did it like it was just another thing to get through, but when Heidi did it, she did it like it was time to share.

 

His thoughts continued to compare Heidi to his mom, he couldn’t help it sometimes. He tried not to, but there were times when it was unavoidable. Slipping and getting stuck in his head was more common than Jeremy had liked, and sometimes it was hard to pull him out of it, which is why it surprised Jeremy so much when he heard someone sit next to him and say. “So, Pac-Man, huh?”

 

“Huh?” Was Jeremy’s eloquent reply when he realized someone was talking to him, and not just someone, it was Michael, the super cool and super cute new sound director. Though he wasn’t really new anymore, he was still referred to as such.

 

Michael gave him this small smirk that certainly did not make Jeremy’s heart skip a beat, “The Pac-Man tattoo. You like Pac-Man?” The other boy asked as he pointed to Jeremy’s tattoo on his arm. Jeremy had gotten it done in high school, it was on his inner fore arm with a Pac-Man that started closer to his inner elbow and four of the classic white orbs trailing towards his wrist. And on top of it in invisible ink was Pac-Man turned the other way with the white orbs replaced with the yellow dots that showed you picked up the white orbs, but that version was only visible in a black light.

 

“Y-Yeah. I'm a big video g-game person.” Jeremy mumbled as he traced his tattoo and avoided eye contact. Though he did occasionally look up, he couldn’t make eye contact for long. “E-Especially r-retro games. I still have all my old consoles.”

 

“Dude, that’s amazing!” Michael whisper-yelled. “So do I. I mean I also like retro games and have my old consoles. What’s your favorite game?” He asked as he pulled up the other bean bag that Rich had bought but never used, he mainly bought it because he got mad at Jeremy for not letting him sit in his bean bag.

 

A fierce blush found its way to Jeremy’s face, and he had never been more thankful that the lights were all turned off except for the light coming from the TV. He didn’t get a lot of opportunities to discuss video games with anyone, especially the old ones he loved, and it didn’t hurt that Michael was fucking gorgeous. If Connor was awake he would be teasing him like the asshole he was, but thankfully he was sound asleep cuddling Jeremy’s brother. God, sometimes when Jeremy stopped to analyze his life and thinking he realizes it, his life, is so fucking weird, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “My favorite? That’s an easy one! It’s Apocalypse of-“

 

“the Damned!?” Michael finished for Jeremy.

 

“Yeah! You know it?” Jeremy asked hopefully as he turned to fully look at Michael, who had gotten a lot closer to him than he remembered but Jeremy didn’t lean back nor, did he want to.

 

“That’s my favorite game to!! Though I’m still stuck on one part.”

 

“Same here. I bet you’re farther than I am though, what level are you on?”

 

“Level 9 the-“

 

“Cafetorium! That’s where I’m stuck!” It was Jeremy’s turn to interrupt.

 

“What a coincidence…well uh, we could always try to help each other? I’ve always heard it’s better as a two-player game.” Michael said with a wink and poor Jeremy’s heart couldn’t take it, that, that kind of sounded like Michael was asking him out on a date. But there’s no way he was doing that. He was probably just being friendly.

 

“I-I’d like that.” Jeremy said with a small smile, one Michael returned.

 

“Good. Um, here, put you number in.” Michael said as he shoved his phone at Jeremy. Jeremy did just that and texted himself so that he would have Michael’s number. “I’ll text you when I have free day, now that the show is over, I’m going to be helping Mr. Reyes with another project but my schedule shouldn’t be too packed in the beginning.”

 

“S-Sounds good, I have a couple auditions coming up but besides that I should be free.”

 

“Great…We uh, we should probably try to sleep.” Michael said with a chuckle when he glanced at the time on his phone. Jeremy agreed and the two went off to find comfortable places to crash on and before he knew it, Jeremy was asleep and really looking forward to hanging out with Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are super appreciated!! Also of anyone wants to geek out about musical theatre with me you can check me out on Tumblr, if you do go to my blog i warn you, it is chaos. ---> Goggles-McGee is my username


	7. I Love Play Rehearsal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael's POV!!!! Michael has always been a fan of Jeremy, he didn't know how he got to be so lucky, but he knows he has Jeremy to thank somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait but school started up for me, i have a summer class so that'll put a delay on updates. But i hope you guys enjoy this little bit of Michael's POV. Also I'm so excited for the Tony's tonight!!!!!!!

It happened by chance, like most things in Michael’s life did. It’s not like he was particularly looking for a job at the moment, he was doing pretty well for himself and he thought, why not go see a show? Living in New York meant there was no shortage of things to see for entertainment. He had even worked as a sound director for a couple of shows so he always found it interesting to go see shows and try how to figure out what sound board they were using and such. Plus, he did genuinely like musicals, he even followed this blog, Ticket2Showtime, to see if his favorite actor was in any shows. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t been on to check the blog in a while, and he’s pretty sure the admin of the blog had already seen the shows around this area and reviewed them. He always did, and he even went back to a show if another person took up a role other than the original just to give another updated review, like damn, that’s commitment. So, Michael logged on to the blog and went to the tabs and sure enough the Jeremiah Heere tab had an exclamation point on it showing it had been updated.

 

With his heart racing and him smiling gleefully, Michael clicked the tab and tapped his foot as he waited for it to load. Once it did he has to restrain himself from doing a little dance when he saw Jeremy was in Sweeney Todd which was at the theatre around the corner. He quickly clicked on the link to the available seat and was very happy to see there was a couple premium seats available. Seriously, how lucky was he? He immediately clicked on one of the available seats and went to checkout, he didn’t even check the price, which, yeah, was pretty reckless but it was an opportunity to see Jeremy perform again, and he was a devoted fan.

 

The first time he had seen Jeremy perform had been when his moms took him to see ONCE and Jeremy had been Andrej, he really hadn’t expected to become this boys fan so fast, but that’s what happened. As soon as he heard him sing, Michael knew he would gladly drop any amount of cash to hear Jeremy sing live, whatever it was, even where ever it was, and this time was no different. He had about two hours till showtime, but he knew some people showed up early, either to make sure they could easily make it to their seats, or people who were just buying tickets at the door. He decided to just wait outside the theater, he passed time by messing around on his phone until they would be let in, but once he got bored of that he fiddled with the patches on his sweater, and then he decided to just people watch.

 

There was a girl who had dressed up like Sweeney Todd who was taking a picture in front of the theater, she looked amazing, then there was this couple who were talking animatedly about something, complete with hand gestures. Michael people watched for the rest of the time until he could finally take his seat. He looked at who he was sitting by, a 10-year-old who looked pretty excited to be there, and a boy who looked to be around his age with sandy brown hair, who was wearing a blue striped polo. Who wore polos? On purpose? Also…was this dude wearing khakis? He had his phone out and was taking a picture of the cast list in the playbill, and was uploading it to something familiar, but Michael couldn’t put his finger on it. But then his phone buzzed signaling an email, which he checked quickly since he thought he had put it on silent when he was outside waiting. It was an update from Ticket2Showtime. Michael glanced at the boy next to him and back at his phone and discreetly went to check the blog and what he saw dumbfounded him, he looked from his phone to the boy on his left, back to his phone and back to the boy. It was the admin of Ticket2Showtime, Ev! Holy shit! What the fuck? Michael looked back at his phone to see what the post was, there was the picture of the cast list with a name circled, it was the part of Mrs. Lovett and It was stating that the understudy would be part of the production.

 

“You excited for the show?” Michael doesn’t know what compelled him to talk to him, okay, well that’s a lie, he knew it was because this guy literally ran his favorite blog of all time.

 

He felt a little bad when Ev jumped, probably not expecting anyone to talk to him, but all the same he gave Michael a small smile and nod. “Y-Yeah. I love this show. Are you?”

 

“Totally man. I’m a big fan of Jeremy and plus I love Sweeney Todd.”

 

“H-He is a great performer.”

 

“He really is.” Michael had sighed wistfully, before they could continue with their conversation the lights dimmed and Ev gave him another small smile before his attention was fully on the production. Michael would expect nothing less from the blogger, he couldn’t help but smirk when he caught Ev blush when the guy who was playing Sweeney Todd came on before his attention was caught by Jeremiah Heere. He looked fantastic in his costume! Like hot damn, someone get Michael a slushie because he was thirsty!

 

It wasn’t hard to keep Michael’s attention after that but there were small things that kept ruining the flow of the show, like a sound que would be late or a mic’s volume would be too low or too high, but besides that the show was truly awesome. Everyone absolutely killed their roles and the singing was amazing. The energy was wonderful, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one who thought so when he stood up to applaud at curtain call. After it was done he decided he would press his luck by waiting by the stage door and maybe, hopefully get an autograph of some of the cast. Afterwards he decided to just hang around the area and see if there was anything else he could do before he headed home, he was still by the stage door just messing around on his phone when the door opened and a young man stomped out and shoved past him yelling at the older man who was watching from the door about how they would never find someone better than him and all that jazz when the older man yelled back that that was a good thing before looking at Michael. Michael just gave him a small awkward wave in response, the two other people went back to glaring at one another.

 

“Oh yeah?” The older man said as he raised a brow and turned his attention back to Michael. “Hey kid. How would you like a job?”

 

The younger man then began to sputter, “You can’t be serious!”

 

“Oh, but I am, Dustin. Kid you got headphones and a lot of cool patches. You’re hired.” The older man said to Michael and promptly dragged him inside the theater. The only sounds to follow were more unintelligible garbles and yells.

 

Michael didn’t know what the fuck just happened, but he just watched the older man as he pulled him through the halls until they were up in a booth, the sound booth to be exact, it was a nice setup he had to admit as he took it all in.

 

“Sorry about that kid, that was our sound director, well ex-sound director. Had to let him go, he had an attitude on him as you have seen, and he made too many mistakes to be working in a theater like this. He really knows how to push my buttons and I just dragged you in here to be dramatic. God, I need a hot pocket.”

 

Michael could only blink at the man before offering him a small smile, “It’s okay dude, we’ve all…uh, been there. But uh, just a little bit of information for you, I have worked as a sound director for many theaters around the area. If you were serious about that job, I can be of help. I’ve worked with a system like this before.”

 

He didn’t know why he was trying to get the job, but future him would tell him he wasn’t thinking straight and was instead thinking about a pale boy with curly brown hair and amazing blue eyes that sometimes looked green, it depended on the lighting. Future him would also thank him because he did get the job and he got to meet the cast and they were all honestly some of the best people he had ever met. He didn’t talk much with Jeremy, even if he wished he did, they just swapped pleasantries, but he watched him interact with the others and he was just as much of a dork than Michael thought. He was amazing, and all Michael wanted to do was actually have a conversation with him. Well apparently, all that took was to show up to a cast party and wait until everyone was asleep and Michael didn’t know how It was possible, but the boy was even more amazing than Michael expected. He liked out of print games, and his favorite game just so happened to be Michael’s favorite, like what were the odds? But Michael wasn’t going to question his luck, he would thank it, but not question.

 

He couldn’t help but look over at Jeremy, who had fallen asleep pretty fast, and smiled. He was going to hang out with Jeremy! And play video games with him! He was so happy, and he was looking forward to their date? Could he count it as a date? He hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day!


	8. Good Mornings, Hasty Goodbyes, and Yearning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's POV. He just really likes Evan, back off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Class is fun, but hard, and time consuming. I hope you guys like the chapter!

The first thing that Connor noticed when he begun his awakening into the land of people was that he was warm, really warm, but not to the point where it was uncomfortable. That was another thing he noticed, there was a comfortable weight pressing on his chest and alongside his body, like he was entangled with it. Then there was the smell, someone was obviously awake and making breakfast, but there was another smell coming from the warm weight, however odd it may sound, it smelt liked spiced peaches and pears and old spice deodorant. It was an odd mix but Connor liked it so he brought that warmth and smell closer to him. He probably could have fallen back asleep if it weren’t for the giggling and the whispers and for the fucking light that was way too bright that burned his retinas despite his eyes being closed. It was that light combined with the fucking giggling and whispers that made him open his eyes and immediately glare in the direction of the noises, which just seemed to make the giggling worse.

 

“Damn, you were right Zoe, he does wake up with a glare on his face.” Jared snickered with his phone directed straight at Connor, the asshole was probably recording him again. He didn’t know why, but for some odd reason, Jared liked to document Connor sleeping. Apparently, it was like seeing a cryptid.

 

“F’ck ff” Connor mumbled out as he tried to stretch but something, the warm weight, his mind helpfully reminded him, was still very much present.

 

He looked down to see a head of brown curls and raked his brain trying to remember who the fuck fell asleep on him, again his brain was actually being helpful for the second time in a row that morning by making him remember the absolute personification of the word adorable that he finally talked to last night. And yup…he was blushing, he didn’t even care that Jared was still laughing at him. He would blame what he did next on Half-Asleep Connor, Half-Asleep Connor is a scheming bitch and is not to be trusted (It’s Connor at his most honest and apparently, Half-Asleep Connor likes to be…honest. Can you believe that?). Half-Asleep Connor convinced him to wrap his arms around Evan and cuddle more with him now that he was awake (somewhat) to enjoy it.

 

“Rise and shine bro, Christine is making chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and eggs.” Zoe’s voice said from somewhere in the kitchen, she was probably looking out from the weird counter window thing that let you look out into the living room.

 

Connor groaned at the prospect of having to actually get up but his bladder and stomach were very much awake and demanding attention, the smell of food and the weight on top of him, though nice, did not help. He was about to try and maneuver his way out under Evan so that he wouldn’t wake up but then someone’s alarm went off, he laughed along with everyone else because the alarm song was Careless Whisper. Connor stopped laughing though when Evan’s head shot off his chest and he lost that warmth, but he felt blessed, truly he did, by Evan’s overwhelmingly cute yet hot bedhead and sleepy blue eyes that blinked at him before slowly looking around. He was probably trying to get a better grip of reality before he promptly dropped his face into Connor’s chest and let out a soft groan. And did Connor blush? Yes. Yes, he did, but you would too if you were in his place. He would bet money on that.

 

“Noooooooooooooooooo.” Evan grumbled into Connor’s chest which made it sound muffled and also made the taller boy laugh softly.

 

“Why no?” Connor asked gently.

 

“That’s my alarm. Jared, I told you to stop changing my alarm.” Evan grumbled as he sat up and pouted at Jared who just shrugged, Connor could tell he was definitely going to do it again. “Wait…Th-That’s my alarm!” Evan said again, only this time he was more awake and stood up.

 

“Evan, shut the alarm off dude.” Jeremy whined from his spot beside the couch before he too sat up, his eyes wide as he stared at Evan and then stood up. “Dude! That’s your backup a-alarm!”

 

“I know.” Evan shouted back, his eyes equally wide as the two siblings just stood there and looked at each other. Connor was just very confused about the whole thing as he slowly sat up, he was glad to know he wasn’t the only one since everyone seemed to have the same reaction as him.

 

“Shit. Hurry!” Jeremy yelled as he grabbed Evan’s bag and shoved it into his chest before pushing him towards the bathroom, Evan only nodded and ran into the bathroom, you could hear several thumps and Connor was more than a little worried when Jeremy just dropped his sweats and quickly, but not gracefully pulled on some skinny jeans from his bag, as well as strip off his shirt and replace it with a somewhat wrinkled striped shirt and his usual blue cardigan. Just as he was pulling on his shoes Evan came out from the bathroom and instead of his usual khakis, he was wearing some dark blue capris but the same sweater he had slept in and he was glaring at Jared.

 

“Y-You swapped out my clothes! Again!” Evan shouted at Jared, though it wasn’t really a shout, more like a strongly said statement just a little above his usual speaking voice. Though he looked annoyed, he also looked incredibly worried. “And y-you forgot to grab me a shirt! I can’t go t-to the school in what I s-slept in, Jared! You k-know I can’t. Th-they’ll be able to tell I slept in it, and then they’ll th-think I’m a slob.”

 

Okay Evan was really freaking out and Connor really didn’t like to see him like this. “Ev.” He said softly as he stood up and grabbed Evan’s elbow, so the boy was closer to him. “Breath. I’m sure someone has an extra shirt that you can borrow, okay?”

 

Evan nodded stiffly at him, “I just, I can’t be late. Tonight is their opening show a-and one of the stage pieces still isn’t finished, a-and a piece broke off of another stage piece and I g-got to fix it.”

 

Connor nodded, he was trying to think how to help when a shirt, he assumes it’s a shirt flies towards Evan and hits him directly in the face. “Oh my god sorry, I wasn’t aiming for your face I swear.” Zoe half apologized, and half laughed.

 

“Evan, we don’t have time let’s go. Th-the subway is g-going to leave.” Jeremy said as he grabbed a pancake and just ate it plain.

 

Evan nodded and quickly rushed to the bathroom, he emerged, and Connor’s face felt like it was on fire because Evan was wearing his Nirvana shirt, and it was too big on him, and he looked absolutely precious. “It’s a bit b-big.” He mumbled as he looked down at himself. Connor couldn’t help the fond smile that he gave Evan as he walked over to him.

 

“Want to borrow my sweater to?” Connor asked, it was only to help Evan feel better. It’s not like he wanted to see Evan in more of his clothes.

 

“U-Um, if i-it wouldn’t be too m-much trouble.”

 

“No trouble at all.” Connor said as he handed Evan his sweater. The two stared at each other before Jeremy pushed Evan towards the door and helped him slip on Connor’s jacket. Evan gave a wave as Jeremy yelled out, “BYE.”

 

Connor kind of just stood there staring at the door before he went back to sit on the couch and asked, “What the hell just happened?” With a small laugh, he was sad that Evan was gone, more than he thought he would be.

 

“I forgot that Evan had to help out that high school.” Jared whined out as he slumped on the dining table as slowly ate a pancake without any utensils, he just bit it and slowly ate it like that. “Oh man, if he’s late he’s going to be so mad at me and send me passive-aggressive bouquets.”

 

“He does that?” Connor asked as he took the seat next to Zoe. “Also, why the hell did you give Evan my shirt?”

 

“You wanted to see him in your clothes. Don’t lie.” She replied with a smug smile as she ate her bacon.

 

“Speaking of Evan, how come you didn’t say the blog he ran was Ticket2Showtime, Jared?” Jenna asked as she placed the orange juice and milk on the table. Connor immediately went and poured himself a glass of milk as he tore into his breakfast. He was curious about the blog, he would admit, because it seemed like everyone there knew about it, except him, but that had more to do with him being what Jared called a “social media grandpa.”

 

“I thought I had.” Jared defended as he poured himself a glass of orange juice and shrugged. “You can’t blame me for not remembering when we were, may I add, in the middle of a show.”

 

“One he was reviewing.” Michael, Connor did remember the guys name was Michael, piped up.

 

“Exactly!” Christine exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to meet him! He always gives such nice reviews, and the blog is so nicely organized.” She said with a wistful sigh. Christine had a thing for organization, but so did Alana who agreed with her. “Plus, he goes back to see a show if he gets word that an understudy is going to perform. Isn’t that nice? That’s so nice.”

 

“I like the fact that everyone he’s seen perform has their own tab to let you know that your favorite actor is performing, or what they will be performing in. I also, really like the fact he has a discussion page, so people can gush about their favorite shows and such.” Michael said excitedly, Connor wouldn’t be surprised if Michael used the app to discuss Jeremy, it was so obvious he was crushing on him.

 

“I like the auditions page.” Jake said around a mouthful of pancake. Everyone gave a murmur of agreement.

 

“My favorite page is the cover page, I love to see other people singing their favorite songs, and people leave the nicest comments, especially Evan.” Zoe said with a smile while Alana nodded.

 

Connor was just so thoroughly confused, okay, so everyone in the apartment knew about it. And if he had to take a wild guess, he would have to say a lot more people outside of it did too. From the sounds of it, it was very organized, and a nice community used it. It sounded too good to be true, but then again so did Evan. The guy was just so…soft, and adorable, and cute, and so much more than Connor deserved, and yet he wanted, he yearned.

 

“You all use it? Like regularly?” Connor asked.

 

“Um, yes. It’s great dude. I know you’re not hip and cool like the young-ins of today, but I thought even you would have heard of it.” Rich teased.

 

Zoe gasped mockingly and looked at Rich, “But Rich, surely you know that my brother, a certified young-in himself doesn’t take part in the media that is social. It is just so unbeknown to a person such as himself.”

 

Rich snickered, “Ah, how stupid of me, milady. I thought, even though he does not indulge himself in the media of socialness, he would have heard word of Sir Evan’s blog because he himself has a tab among it.”

 

“Wait, I have a tab?” Connor asked in shock.

 

“Uhh, duh! All of us do.” Jared said. “He makes sure to make a tab for anyone who makes their debut, even if it’s off-Broadway. Though I did have to help Evan when making his blog, the guy just does not understand technology.”

 

“Aww, did you hear that Connor? You guys are practically made for each other.” Zoe cooed.

 

“Fuck off.” Connor grumbled as his face steadily turned red and he hid his face in his arms. “Jeremy wouldn’t treat me like this.”

 

“Speaking of, why did Jeremy go with Evan? Does he help Evan out making set pieces?” Michael asked, trying to be casual about it, but he wasn’t doing a good job of that.

 

“Evan hates riding the subway because of all the people, but he hates having to try and catch a cab too. Jeremy also hates the subway and calling for a cab, so they brave the subway together. Which I don’t think works out well but they count it as brotherly bonding or whatever.” Jared explained with a roll of his eyes.

 

“Yeah, I don’t think having mutual panic attacks about the subway system count as bonding but it’s cute.” Christine countered with a chuckle. “It’s nice that they have each other.”

 

Connor frowned at the information. Like, he was happy Jeremy was there with Evan, but then again he knew both had bad anxiety. He knew how bad Jeremy’s could get, but he didn’t know how bad Evan’s could get, and he guessed it could be really bad based on how the boy acted. So here he was worrying about his best friend and his crush. His crush which he definitely forgot to ask the number for. Fuck. How was he supposed to get in touch with Evan, now? The guy had his shirt and his sweater. The sweater he practically lives in. He could always ask Jared. But Jared would tease him mercilessly and he really didn’t want to have to deal with Kleinman more than he had to. He could always ask Jeremy, yeah, that’s probably what he would do. To take his mind off worrying about the two, he decided to check out Evan’s blog.

 

It was amazing, honestly. And he did have his own tab like the other’s said and all of Evan’s reviews of him left him a blushing mess. This boy was certainly going to be his undoing, but he thought, that wouldn’t be so bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!! And make my day so much brighter!! Thanks to those who always leave a comment, they make me smile.


	9. How Can I Refuse?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan goes to help the high school theater teacher before opening night and receives a job offer! Also even when he's not there, Connor was distracting.

Evan barely made it on time to the high school and finally let out the breath he had been holding. Jeremy was right behind him panting since they both did run and neither was very (at all actually) athletic. Evan didn’t waste anymore time and opened the doors to the theater to see the cast and crew running around frantically, trying to make sure they had everything for the opening night of the production of Clue.

 

He waved to a couple of the students that noticed him walk in, he found it funny that most of the kids in the second period drama class were in Clue. He could see them off in small groups practicing their lines. He looked at the stage and smiled, it looked great and it would look even better when he fixed a couple of the secret entrances and finished up the kitchen window. He said hi to a couple more kids with Jeremy trailing behind him, some of the kids waved at him since Jeremy often came with Evan. He would give the kids tips and even help some kids when they were feeling stage shy, and the kids loved Jeremy and he even signed some things for them. Evan took pictures and small videos for his blog, of course. Jeremy’s fans love to see him interact with people. He’s more social than Evan, or well, that’s not exactly true, but Jeremy knew how to seem social. That better described it. Maybe it was an actor thing? Who knows, certainly not Evan.

 

“Evan! Dear, thank god you’re here.” Mrs. Rae, the theater teacher and director exclaimed as she hurried over to Evan.

 

“She’s been rhyming all day.” Lacy, the stage manager for the show, also one of Evan’s favorite kids, whispered to him.

 

He frowned, “She’s that stressed?”

 

All Lacy did was nod before Mrs. Rae was in front of them and holding Evan’s hands desperately. “My boy, I’m so glad you’re here, I was on the verge of tears I fear.”

 

“Er…Of c-course I’m here, Mrs. Rae. I’ll have everything ready way b-before school ends. Don’t w-worry. How about you g-go take a rest in your o-office for a while? I’m sure La-Lacy can watch over everybody f-for you.” Evan reasoned as he walked the obviously in need of a nap, woman over to her office.

 

“Maybe you’re right. Just for a bit. But if there is any trouble give me a call alright?” Mrs. Rae asked with a tired smile.

 

Evan gave her a nod and walked out of her office before turning off the light for her so she could hopefully catch a nap, he looked over at Lacy and gave her thumbs-up, one which was returned by the girl who moved around at an incredible speed just to see how everyone was doing and if they could help out with anything if they had nothing to do. Evan nodded to himself before he walked onto the stage, past the chair that had ‘DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT WALKING ON STAGE!’ and over to the set pieces. The kitchen window was an easy finish, so he decided to start on that. Whenever he worked on pieces he always felt so calm, like he was in his own world, Jeremy called it his Zen zone. After the kitchen window was fixed he quickly went to search for the secret entrance/exit that had been damaged during a run through. He didn’t want to bother the kids and ask which one it was, and besides, he wanted to just check over everything just in case. The paint job was holding up well and it looked fantastic, it did give off the old-fashioned home vibe which is exactly what Evan wanted, his inspiration was heavily based on the old movie Clue, he loved that movie. It was one of the few movies he and his mom had on VHS back when they had a VCR. They actually still had their old TV that had a built in DVD system and VCR, but that was now in the basement of the Heere-Hansen household. As he went through one of the secret passages that would lead him to the bathroom one, that’s the one that ended up being slightly ajar and very much on the verge of falling off it’s hinges. He’s glad he had to come in to finish up the kitchen window, this could definitely hurt someone if they pushed on it too forcefully.

 

He quickly got to work but did have to open up the cabinets that hid the secret passage under the sink, he thought it was pretty clever, and he made it a little larger than usual, so the kids wouldn’t get hurt or their costumes wouldn’t snag on anything. He didn’t know how long he worked on small things, mainly because his anxiety told him to tighten anything he could and recheck everything he had already done, and before he knew it, school was over, and he was done. He looked over at where Jeremy was with the seventh period tech kids and talking about Sweeney Todd and answering any questions he could about the tech work that went into it, he tried to answer as best he could, but the poor guy was floundering.

 

Michael, the new sound director that Jeremy thought was really cute. He accidentally admitted that when he was high, Evan didn’t like that Jeremy got high, and he told him that whenever he could. Honestly, Evan didn’t think he would be the best big brother, even if they were only a year apart, but surprising even himself, he loved having a sibling, especially a brother. It was funny how protective Evan found himself feeling over Jeremy at times despite the other towering over him much like Connor did.

 

…Connor, oh god, he was just, he was amazing. He was so nice, he smelt good, and he had the most beautiful eyes Evan had ever seen. And to wake up cuddling with him? Evan blushed at the memory, because he remembered what it felt like to be pushed against him entirely, and boy did the boy have some muscle. Like that lanky sort of muscle, the kind Evan totally was into. God, he couldn’t stop thinking of how great it felt to be in his arms, which made him blush even more, because he barely even knew the guy! The very attractive guy. The very attractive guy named Connor who had a voice that called to Evan like a siren’s. Connor who genuinely seemed to be flirting with Evan last night. He couldn’t help but sigh at the thought, he hoped he was flirting with him, but then again, he probably was just being friendly…and cuddly. Gah! He needed to stop thinking about him and focus at the task at hand.

 

With a shake of his head he gathered up his things and promised the kids he would be back to watch the opening night and tugged Jeremy away who also promised the kids he would be there. They both would rather walk all the way home but that wasn’t really an option if they wanted to make it back on time for the show. So, they reluctantly got on the subway again. Evan did everything he could think of to distract himself from the people that surrounded them both. Jeremy opted to jamming his ear phones in and blasting his music and bouncing his leg until they arrived at home.  Evan was about to do the same when he felt his phone vibrating. He didn’t recognize the number but then again, he did get unfamiliar numbers calling him who turned out to be different theaters requesting him to review their show. He hated talking on the phone, but he was a lot better about it now than he had been back in high school. He took a deep breath before he pressed answer.

 

“H-Hello?”

 

“Hello? Can I speak toooooo Evan Hansen?” A man asked.

 

“Th-this is him.”

 

“Oh great! Listen, I’ve heard great things about you kid and what you can do.”

 

“What I c-can do?”

 

“Yeah! Your set designs and building of them. I heard from a couple of my friends who own theaters as well as your brother.”

 

“J-Jeremy?”

 

“Yup. Oh, look at me chatting your ear off without even introducing myself, one of those days you know?” The man said with a chuckle. “I’m Mr. Reyes. The owner of Hot Shot Theater.”

 

That was the theater where Sweeney Todd had been showing at and one of Evan’s personal favorites to frequent! Jeremy starred in a lot of shows there, he told Evan it was because he liked the owner, who doubled as a director. This must have been him.

 

“Anyways. I called to ask if you would help build the set for the next show I want to put on. Jeremy has sung your praises and I’ve seen pictures of your work and I am really impressed. I would love to get together with you and talk it over if you’re interested.”

 

A chance to work at a theater as big as that one? It was like a dream come true, well at least one of his dreams come true. “I-I’d like that.”

 

“Awesome! How does Monday at 4 sound?”

 

“S-Sounds good to me. See y-you then.” Evan was smiling so wide and was practically shaking out of excitement. He could possibly get a job at one of his favorite theaters, with one of his favorite directors. It was too good to be true, but he couldn’t think like that, at least that’s what his therapist said anyways. After they both said goodbye, Evan hung up the phone and without thinking pulled Jeremy’s earphone’s out.

 

“D-Dude what the hell?” Jeremy squawked

 

“I got a job offer!” Evan said, and he had a passing thought of wanting to tell Connor, and that is when he realized, he didn’t get Connor’s number. Crap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!!!!


	10. A New Project To Look Forward To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael's POV, you learn what the new show is going to be and Evan and Michael hang out and get to know each other a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the late update but so much happened all at once and i found myself with no time. I'm going to try to update at least every other day. Also a disclaimer, i have no idea how professional theaters work, let alone Broadway theaters so yeah. Enjoy!

Michael stretched as he made his way over to the theater, Mr. Reyes had called him to discuss the latest show he wanted to put on, and Michael was admittedly excited, for one, it was a new show to work on, for another reason he would know what he schedule would look like. That meant he and Jeremy could finally make a date to play Apocalypse of the Damned. And wasn’t that just the perfect motivator to get out of bed before noon? Sure, he still grumbled and cursed whatever higher being he could think of for having to do so but hey, he’s only human.

 

He smiled when he saw the theater a little ways away from him and took off his headphones once he made it to the side door, or as the fans called it, the stage door, and rushed inside. A yawn escaped him as he made his way to the stage where Mr. Reyes said he would be. Once he got there he noticed somebody familiar. It was Evan! He was also talking to Mr. Reyes who had an arm around the boy’s shoulders, it wasn’t hard to see that Evan found this super uncomfortable.

 

“Yo, Reyes! I'm here. I'm queer and I want to go back to sleep. Why did I have to be here so earlyyyyyyy?” Michael shouted as he made his way to the stage from backstage.

 

“Ah, Michael. Good to see you actually did get up to be here. Come here so I can introduce you to Evan, our new set designer!” Mr. Reyes said loudly which made Evan flinch and Michael wince in sympathy. Mr. Reyes didn’t understand the concept of indoor voices. Like at all.

 

“Hey, Ev.” Michael said as he hauled himself onto the stage.

 

“H-Hey, Michael.” Evan said with a little wave.

 

“Oh! You know each other, good. Let me introduce you to the set builders Evan.” Mr. Reyes said with a small clap as he wrapped his arm around Evan’s shoulders yet again and dragged him over to a group of guys and girls who looked over at Evan. Poor Evan who somehow managed to get paler, he looked like he might pass out or get sick, or both.

 

Once they reached the group Evan gave them a small wave, “H-Hello, I'm Evan. Um…Evan Hansen. I look f-forward to working with you guys. A-And girls. Not just the guys, I meant guys in like the gen-general term for you people…You probably knew that…Umm, just, yeah, I look f-forward to working with all of you.”

 

Now Evan’s face turned super red. Michael was worried even more that the dude might pass out. He walked over and put a hand on Evan’s shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. “I'm Michael. I love Bob Marley. I have a _slight_ addiction to Seven 11, and I'm the Sound Director.” Michael announced to the crowd who smiled and chuckled. There, now they were laughing at him instead of Evan.

 

“By the way, Reyes, Dude, what show are we even putting on? It would be great for Evan to know. Did he already tell you?” Michael asked as he looked down at Evan who simply shook his head. He nodded in reply and looked over at Mr. Reyes who had a wide grin on his face.

 

“Ah yes, the show! I almost forgot to tell you all what it is. Silly me.” Mr. Reyes cleared his throat dramatically, “We are performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella!”

 

Michael nodded in approval, that’s one of his favorite musicals, the music was beautiful for the show, he couldn’t wait and it seemed like Evan couldn’t wait either. He watched as the shorter boy snatched his sketchbook out of his bag as fast as he could and flipped to an empty page. He was already drawing out ideas, now that was the kind of dedication Michael respected.

 

Everyone else seemed super excited as well as some tried to take a peek at Evan’s designs.

 

“Yes, yes, it's going to be magnificent, but that’s not even the best part,” Mr. Reyes announced which made everyone pause. “We are doing Cinderella but we are going to “mix it up” so to say. We’re making it gay.”

 

The theater was quiet before erupting into questions and even more excited chatter. Michael, himself, could only blink before he laughed. “Gay you say? So instead of Cinderella it’s Cinder-fella, eh?” He said while he wiggled his eyebrows. It made Evan laugh so he counted it as a win. Oh, what is he kidding? Everything he says is gold. Mr. Reyes smiled even wider at the positive responses he got for his announcement.

 

“Right you are, dear boy. Pam, from my weekly poker group, you know her Michael, she owns and runs that theater a couple of buildings down, anyways. Where was I? Oh yes, well I was discussing my decision with her and she laughed and said tickets wouldn’t sell and I should just do it the “normal” way. I say fuck that.” Mr. Reyes declared as he held his clipboard in the air dramatically. “Anywho. That’s the only announcement I wanted to make. No one in this room can speak of what we’re doing until I make the announcement for auditions which will be in about 3 weeks. Oh and Evan, I trust your judgement, take your time with the sketches, we won’t be putting on the show for a while so there is no rush.” And with that Mr. Reyes called the meeting to an end.

 

Michael was glad it was over but there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep now so he thought of things he could do as he looked over the now very excitable staff who were talking about all the possibilities of the show. Even Evan looked excited and listened in on conversations but not putting in any input. That’s when Michael had an idea on what to do with his free time. He quickly walked over to Evan and gave him a smile.

 

“Hey Evan, since the meeting’s over, do you want to go grab something to eat? I'm feeling cheesecake.”

 

Evan chuckled softly and raised an eyebrow at him. “Ch-Cheesecake? Like right now?”

 

“Yes, cheesecake right now. Cheesecake is good no matter what time of the day.”

 

Again, Evan chuckled, this time though he shook his head at Michael before nodding. “Sounds good. J-Jeremy would agree with you.”

 

At the mention of Jeremy, Michael felt his face heat up considerably even though said boy wasn’t around. “O-Oh? What would he agree on?”

 

“Cheesecake any t-time of the day. Well, actually, I think that applies to any sweet thing. He has a m-major sweet tooth, but that’s beside the point.” Evan rambled softly as they both walked out the theater, Evan following Michael since Michael didn’t say exactly where they were going. Michael made sure to help weave Evan through the crowd of people, he tried to pay attention to where he was going, but after what Evan said, his mind was full of possible date ideas with Jeremy. Taking Jeremy to Junior’s where he was taking Evan now, or taking him on a little shopping spree to the Hershey’s store, and many, many, more places that had great sweets to share. Eventually they reached the doors of Junior’s and Michael held the door open for them, it would be about 5 minutes until they would be seated.

 

“Really? That’s so cool. He’s so cool.” Michael sighed.

 

“Wow.” Evan giggled softly.

 

“Wow, what?” Michael asked as they were taken to their table, a booth somewhat near the back of the restaurant.

 

“You-You’re just…You really like him, that is, Jeremy. You really like Jeremy a lot.” Were the words that stumbled out of Evan who looked highly amused at how fast and how red Michael’s face turned to show just how much that statement took him by surprise.

 

“Yeah I do.” No point in trying to deny just how smitten he was with the boy. “He’s amazing. I already thought that before I got to work with him, and after I got to know him. He’s perfect, and he is super cute, dude. I don’t know. He makes me feel like jello.”

 

“Jello?” Evan asked as he looked up from the menu.

 

“Mushy but stable enough to hold my shape.” Michael clarified as he too looked at all the food options. The food sounded good but he was definitely in the mood to just get like three different slices of cheesecake. “Anyways, on a side note, how are things going with Connor?”

 

Michael was absolutely not above being petty and he had to hide a smirk behind his menu when Evan turned into a tomato, seriously, the boy was so red. His face looked like it invented red, which didn’t really make sense, but who cares? No one, exactly. Evan opened and closed his mouth several times before he just pouted and sighed. “I want to say good, but that-that’s only because we haven’t spoken to each other since the-the sleepover thing.”

 

Now that threw Michael off, he was so sure the two would be practically planning their futures together. What, with the way they had been looking at each other at the ‘Cozy Cast Party’ (that is what Christine called it in her email to everybody anyways. “What? Seriously? Didn’t you get his number?”

 

“No, Jeremy and I left ear-early remember?”

 

“Ooooooh yeaaaaaaaah. You should have asked Jeremy to give you Connor’s number then. I’m sure he’d be happy to.” Michael suggested, he was again treated to a pout.

 

“I DID ask Jeremy. He told me to s-suffer and die, if I remember correctly.”

 

“Why would he say that?”

 

Evan sighed and glared at his menu as though it was its fault that Jeremy hadn’t given Evan Connor’s number when he asked for it. “I may or may not have acc-accidentally eaten his left overs of my-our mom’s tacos. They didn’t ev-even have his name on them! How was I supposed to know? I was hungry! And to top it all off, he told every-everyone not to tell me, or Connor each other’s numbers.”

 

Wow Jeremy could sure hold a grudge, and Michael couldn’t hold his laughter back after hearing that. Several people turned around as he laughed but he didn’t care. Evan was a pretty cool dude to hang out with, maybe they could both help each other out with their crushes.

 

“You know who he didn’t ask not to tell you?”

 

Michael had never seen Evan look so hopeful. “You? Really? Would you please give me Connor’s number?”

 

“Alright, so here’s the thing. I don’t have Connor’s number, but I can get you it. I can say I have a question only he can answer and have someone else give me his number, if-“

 

“Of c-course there’s an if.”

 

“Sh. If you help me plan a kickass date for Jeremy.” Another thing Michael was not above doing was trading. You help him out, he’ll help you out. You scratch his back, he’ll scratch yours…actually no to that one, why was that even a saying? That’s so weird. Humans are weird.

 

“F-Fine.”

 

Michael held out his hand to Evan who didn’t hesitate to take it and give it one solid shake before he let go and looked at Michael.

 

“Pleasure doing business Hansen, now what kind of cheesecake are you thinking of getting?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comments are appreciated and make me smile. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter is going to be Connor's POV


	11. Connor's Self-Help Guide to Murder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder is an art, and Connor might as well be called Roxie, just kidding, but Connor does talk about murder and gets a chance to see Evan again!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been paid for by @sheetmetalfish 's soul, so go thank them guys. On another note I'm sorry for the long wait, a lot of stuff happened all at once and school is meh. I'll try to be more consistent with updates :)

Now the first thing to know about killing a person is how do you want to do it? Do you actually want to do the killing, or do you just want the person dead? This is very important as the first answer ties in to Connor’s List of Things to do if you Want/Need to Kill Somebody. The next thing to ask yourself is, how much pain do you want to inflict on said person? Do you want it over and done with or do you want the pain to be drawn out? These are all very important questions to ask before even getting ready to kill someone. At this very moment, Connor was heavily considering torturing and killing one Jeremy Heere.

 

Like Connor was very close to writing out a detailed list of instructions but he didn’t want there to be any evidence. Jeremy was supposed to be his friend why was he doing this to him? It wasn’t like he was asking for much. All he wanted was Evan’s number, that was all, and fucking Jeremy wouldn’t give it to him. He said it was payback because of something Evan did and Connor tried to reason that Connor didn’t do anything, therefore Jeremy could give him Evan’s number. But Jeremy, the little shit, shot back with “If I gave you his number you would text him, because Bitch I know neither of you can handle phone calls, he’s too anxious, you sound ready to murder whoever calls you, and you texting him would bring him happiness. So yeah that’s not going to happen.”

 

That had dumbfounded Connor, so he responded with, “What the hell did Evan even do? It couldn’t have been that bad. He probably apologizes to flowers if he accidentally steps on them.”

 

Jeremy had then responded, “He does. A-Apologize to flowers I mean. But he did something s-so unforgivable, so unholy. I tried to convince Dad and Heidi to put him up for ado-adoption, but apparently that can’t happen.”

 

“What did he do?” Connor had asked.

 

“He ate my tacos. I had my name on them and everything and he just a-ate them like a heathen!”

 

That was the exact moment Connor considered murdering his best friend. All of this, all of it, because Evan accidentally ate Jeremy’s leftovers? How could a person be so petty? How? Somehow Jeremy had bribed everyone else into not giving Connor Evan’s number. It’s not like Jared would ever do Connor a favor, but it’s not like everyone else had Evan’s number to begin with but then he found out Jeremy gave Christine, Evan’s number because she wanted to talk to him about his blog since she didn’t get to go as “in depth” as she had wanted to. When Connor found that out he tried everything to get Christine to give him Evan’s number, and everything he tried failed. She was stubborn and apparently, she found his misery amusing. To add on to all of that, Connor really wanted his sweater back, he lived in that thing, and yeah Evan had looked too cute to be true in his shirt and sweater, but he wanted that shit back. He felt naked without it, even though it was summer, and wearing any other sweater of his felt like he was cheating. He couldn’t really explain why, but that’s how it felt.

 

So that’s how he found himself reflecting on his long-lost sweater, Zoe called it pouting, but he was not fucking pouting, no definitely not. He was walking down Broadway, it was nice to just go on a walk, he was walking with his sister and Alana, they had both wanted to just walk around, some people had stopped them for photos, and they were all really polite and nice, which helped Connor’s mood, but he still missed his sweater. Even one of the girls who stopped them commented on the fact he wasn’t wearing his usual sweater. Or in her words, “the sweater.” Zoe laughed at him again because his “pout” was on a “whole other level.”

 

He swore the next time he sees Jeremy he’s killing him. Witnesses be damned.

 

“Con! Zo! Lana!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Connor would like to take this time to pray to whatever deity was listening to him, thank you for giving him the opportunity to murder. He would be eternally grateful.

 

“Hey Jer! What are you up to?” Zoe asked as they all stopped and waited for Jeremy to catch up to them. He was carrying a small M&M tote bag with him.

 

“Just running some errands for Heidi. But hey I’m running late foooooor…a th-thing. Can you deliver this for me?” Jeremy asked as he not so gently thrust the bag into Connor’s chest.

 

“What exactly is this?” Connor huffed as he tried not to drop the bag, yes, he didn’t like the fact it was practically thrown at him but if it was important and needed to be delivered, and it was something Heidi needed delivered, all the more reason not to let it drop. It could break or something and Connor didn’t want that on his conscious despite Jeremy’s recklessness.

 

“Evan’s dinner. Heidi made tacos again so Evan is slightly forgiven and I dec-decided to be nice like the kind human b-being I am. And Evan’s been nonstop-“

 

“The man is nonstop!” Zoe sang/yelled, Connor and Jeremy just stared at her for a couple seconds before Jeremy continued.

 

“He’s working with Reyes right now, designing set pieces and what not, but he forgot to take his lunch with him again, and well, he’s not really good at eating if someone doesn’t remind him.” Jeremy explained as he motioned to the bag in Connor’s hand. Connor felt his heart flutter at the mention of Evan, he missed the boy. How did that make sense? He had only known him truly, for a day, more accurately a couple hours. But he was in Connor’s thoughts more often than he would like to admit. Some innocent…some not so innocent. He was only human, fucking sue him. He couldn’t help it thought, he knew what it felt like to hod him close, he knew the warmth the other gave him, he saw his bedhead which looked more erotic than anything. Still, Connor always felt guilty and shit when he thought of Evan in any sexual way because it felt wrong? He couldn’t describe it, fuck. It was like, ugh, Evan was just so innocent looking, and he just radiated pure and having dirty thoughts about him made Connor feel like he was tainting the boy in some way. “Dirty thoughts”, God, he sounded like Cynthia when she tried to give him ‘The Talk.’ Yeah that had been a fun one.

 

“Seriously?” Alana asked.

 

Jeremy nodded, “Seriously. Which is why I was taking him that, but now that you guys are here you can do that for me!”

 

“And by ‘you guys’ you mean Connor, huh?” Zoe said smugly as she poked Connor’s cheek, Connor turned his head and snapped his teeth at her finger which only made her laugh.

 

Jeremy smirked back and nodded, “Yup, well wow! L-Look at the time, I really must be going thankd Connor!” And then Jeremy ran away. The little shit literally just ran away, he didn’t even ask if Connor would do it! Which, okay, yeah, he would but only because it meant he could see Evan. It wasn’t for Jeremy, the brat. He looked over at Zoe who was smiling smugly at him and wiggling her eyebrows, he rolled his eyes in response.

 

“Better not keep him waiting bro.” She sang, which made Connor role his eyes again and groan.

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll see you at the apartment later tonight loser.” He mumbled as he began the familiar walk to Reyes’s theater, the whole walk there he tried to stop his heart from beating so fast in excitement. But he couldn't help it, nor could he help the small smile he got on his face the closer he got to the theater and Evan. Finally he got to see Evan again.

 

Once he reached the theater he went around the side to the staff entrance which was most likely open since Reyes could be a little forgetful sometimes. Before he entered though, he ran a hand through his hair and even thought about pulling open the camera app on his phone to make sure he looked good, but just decided fuck it, and walked in. He could hear people in the theater and when he got backstage he passed a couple people he knew, he just nodded as a greeting and continued on his way. Once he got to the stage he could feel the fact that Reyes got the air conditioning fixed, which was heavenly.

 

Connor looked around for Evan when he spotted him sitting at the edge of the stage drawing in a sketchbook. He was about to yell out to him when he noticed what Evan was wearing. He was wearing Connor's jacket! He was- oh God! – he was wearing Connor's jacket and he looked so fucking cozy and cute. He had the sleeves pushed up his forearms but you could tell that it wasn't Evan’s sweater because it engulfed his entire top half of his body and his thighs a bit. He had a pencil behind his hair as well as one in his hand, he was biting his lip and wow, Connor really wished it was him biting those lips instead.

 

He shook his head before he walked over to Evan and sat next to him. “Nice sweater.”

 

Connor had never seen someone look up so fast and he winced when he heard Evan's neck crack. Before he could apologize for scaring him, Evan blushed so prettily and his mouth opened and closed several times before he gave Connor that small soft smile he had given him at the cast party and Connor's heart started to beat fast yet again.

 

“Connor…w-what are you doing here?” Evan asked just as soft as his smile had been. Connor noticed him fiddling with the pencil in his hands, but he didn't seem too nervous, or at least not the bad kind of nervous That Jeremy had told him about during one of their smoke sessions last week.

 

“I uh, ran into Jer and he was actually bringing your dinner.  He said you forgot it.” After he mentioned the dinner he placed the bag Jeremy had given him in the space between them, “ I  guess he had something to do and was running late so he asked if I could bring you your dinner.”

 

“S-Sorry you had to go through the-the trouble.” Evan apologized and bit his lip.

 

“It wasn’t any trouble honestly. I…don't laugh…but I wanted to. To see you again I mean and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Also the perfect opportunity to ask for your number?” Connor's heart felt like it was trying to do a jailbreak and despite the air conditioning he felt himself sweating.

 

Again, he got to see Evan blush. Because of him!

 

“Y-You want my number?”

 

“Of course I want your number Evan. I've been trying to get your number but Jeremy refused and called you a heathen and something about tacos?”

 

“His n-name wasn't on them! He said it was but-but it wasn't.”

 

“I believe you. The brat is forgetful.” Connor chuckled as he moved a little closer to Evan.

 

“He-He is.” Evan said with a hesitant smirk.

 

“What? A brat or forgetful?”

 

“B-both.”

 

“Damn right he is. So, about that number?” Connor asked as he leaned closer to Evan, close enough to see his freckles and the blush darken.

 

“R-Right.” Evan practically whispered as he looked down as he lap and back up at Connor before he gave out a nervous laugh and mumbled ‘right’ again and started writing his name on a corner of paper before ripping it out and slowly handing it to Connor.

 

“Thanks.” Connor whispered back, his eyes momentarily trailing down to Evan's lips once he looked away to write his number down. He heard a pointed cough and looked up to see Reyes looking at him with one brow raised and a shit-eating grin as he looked between him and Evan. He promptly flipped the older man off before looking back at Evan and taking the number from him gently. “What time are you getting out of here?”

 

“Oh, um, p-probably around 5.”

 

“Anything afterwards?” Connor asked. Sue him, he was curious and wanted to know if he could take this boy out for a friendly dinner.

 

“N-Not really, no.”

 

“Cool. Do you want to grab dinner with me then?” Connor could feel himself blush, thank god for his long hair which he could hide behind.

 

“Dinner?”

 

“Yeah. Dinner. That is if you want.”

 

“I-I’d like that.” Evan mumbled softly while looking down at his lap.

 

“Great. I’ll meet you back here at 5, 5:30?”

 

“Y-yeah, sounds good. See y-you then.” Evan said with a wave as Connor got up. Connor gave a wave back as he left the theater, he tried in vain to stop the little smile that spread across his lips. He had something to look forward.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day! If you guys have any questions you can shoot me an ask on my musical side blog [thenameoneverybodyslips](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thenameoneverybodyslips)


	12. The Insanely Cool Wingman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor find out about one of Evan's many hidden talents and Jared is a cool mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank HappyHypocrite for today's chapter they paid for it with their brain let's give them a round of applause! Also sorry for how late this is school and life is hectic. I'm an auntie! Also I was participating in a big bang~
> 
> Next chapter will be longer I promise

Let it be known that Jared is amazing, as well as suave, and awesome, and cool, and also the best wingman ever without even trying. He might as well put it on a resume, he's just that good. It was a little after the theater was closing up, he and Evan planned to go for dinner after Jared was forced to help clean up the theater. You prank Reyes one time and then you're forced to be a servant. Okay it wasn't that bad but still, and it's not like it would take forever to clean the stage since that is what he was tasked with. There was also the added bonus that Evan would probably help him out since he hates waiting when they're things that need to get done. Of course, he would pay for dinner as a thank you, he's not that much of a jerk, well he used to be but that's in the past and Evan's already forgave him for that. So really there was no use in dwelling in the past. Yup no use indeed.

“Yo, Ev, what's up?” Jared yelled, startling the boy who was still sketching on the stage. Jared laughed when Evan frowned at him and began erasing what was probably a design sketch, he felt bad but Evan’s frown was more a pout and he just looked adorable rather that mad.

“What are you doing here?” Evan asked as he brushed off the eraser bits that covered his page before he closed his sketchbook and looked over at Jared.

“Ah I volunteered to help Reyes clean up the theater for a week.” He knew Evan didn’t believe him if the raised brow was anything to go by. “Okay so maybe I got in trouble with Reyes and am now the theater’s cleaning maid.”

“See, that-that sounds believable.” Evan chuckled as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants.

“You wound me my dear friend.” Jared yelled as he dramatically placed a hand over his heart. Evan only laughed and shook his head at him. “Is there any way I can convince you to help me out?”

Evan sighed and shook his head at his friend again, but he was smiling so Jared already knew the answer even before Evan said it. “You don’t have to con-convince me, Jared. Of-Of course I’ll help you.”

“You’re the best Ev! I’m going to go grab the dust sweepers and stuff!” Jared yelled as he went to go walk backstage.

“You mean the br-brooms?” Evan yelled after him, Jared could hear the smugness in his voice.

“No, I obviously mean the dust sweepers!” Jared countered as he walked up to the broom closet, yes he knew they were brooms but he momentarily forgot the word so now they would forever be dubbed dust sweepers. Out of pettiness? Absolutely. Out of embarrassment? Yes but don’t tell Evan ever. He quickly grabbed the “dust sweepers” and made his way back to the stage where Evan was packing up his stuff and throwing his bag on one of the seats in the front row. Jared smiled and whistled ‘Chim Chimney’ as he held out of the “dust sweepers” to Evan.

“Thanks for the broom.” Evan snarked as he began to sweep.

Jared ignored him in favor of whistling and sweeping till he took out his phone on turned on his Spotify (It’s totally better than Pandora you heathen! Evan get with the times!) They cleaned as songs from musicals spilled from Jared’s phone, at first Evan simply hummed along, but soon one of his favorite songs came on and Jared knew Evan wouldn’t be able to simply hum along. ‘When He Sees Me,’ was one of those songs that Evan had to sing along to, if he didn’t then you knew it was a bad day. It also helped that the crew was gone and Reyes was in his office so it was just him and Evan, which meant Evan would be more comfortable with singing. Now, not a lot of people knew Evan liked to sing, and was damn good at it, literally only two people knew, Jared himself, and Evan’s mom, Heidi.

It wasn’t long when Evan began to the sing the song as soon as it started, Jared dutifully took over the talking roles to help Evan set the scene. It was fun when Evan got into character and started dancing with his broom, Jared did his best to stay in character but alas it was not to be as he started dancing around with his broom too. Both were sad but satisfied when the song stopped, all was peaceful as ‘Popular blasted from Jared’s phone until they heard someone clapping. They turned to the source of the clapping to the left entrance of the stage and standing there was Connor who was staring at Evan as though he had just witnessed him hang the stars himself. Jared watched as Evan turned redder and redder as Connor approached him, he would have said something, but something told him neither would hear him even if he did. The two only had eyes for one another.

“Evan that,” Connor looked like he was trying to find a word worthy enough to call the tomato formerly known as Evan Hansen, “that was beautiful…amazing…just really fucking good. Oh my god.”

“It-It was nothing. I mean I’m not-not trying to sound conceited or anything. Oh my god I sound conceited, don’t I? I just meant that-that my singing isn’t all that?” Evan rambled and still Connor was looking at him as though he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, Jared may or may not have fake gagged but it’s not like anyone noticed.

“No, your voice, god Evan, your voice is wonderful. Are you going to audition for the musical?” Connor asked and Jared already knew the answer.

“Are-Are you kid-kidding? Me? Audition? Oh my god, I couldn’t do that. Not to mention there-there’s no way I could sing in front of a crowd.”

“You would be great, though.”

“Yeah, nice try Hot Topic, I’ve tried every trick in the book to convince him but to no avail.” And finally the two noticed that Jared was still there. “Anyways I’m starved let’s go grab some dinner Ev, you can come too Murphy I guess.”

Connor scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Evan and I already had plans for dinner but thank you for the gracious invite Kleinman.”

Evan nodded along with Connor, and ow? But Jared got it, his small son had a crush and said crush wanted to go to dinner with him, maybe it was date? And Jared respected that, he did, kinda…sorta. Actually, he was feeling kind of petty, so he leaned down and grabbed Evan’s bag from the front row and slung it over his shoulder. “Great what are we having?” He asked as he grabbed Evan and started to walk away, oh there was no getting around this, he was going, was he going just to spite Murphy? Absolutely. But also, he knew Evan would be a nervous wreck with Connor after he had heard him sing so he was going to be Evan’s support. Whether this dinner ended up as a disaster or a wedding planning event was up to Jared and he wouldn’t let Evan down. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated!!!


	13. God I Hope I Get It!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just some wholesome step-bro time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait again ~w~ but i hope you enjoy!

It was no secret that Evan has always had stage fright, anxiety does that to you. However, it was a secret that he loved to sing and would dream of becoming an actor for as long as he could remember. With that being a secret, he never thought there would be a day where someone, beside his mother, would want and push him to audition for something. There was a problem though, usually he could just refuse and that would be that, but Connor was being really convincing and that’s what was scaring Evan. He kind of, sort of, wanted to audition, and that was the problem. Evan never wanted to put himself out there like that before so why now? Oh, because a really cute boy told him he wanted him to audition! And dammit! That puppy dog face he had been sending Evan over text just wasn’t fair. That was playing dirty!

 

He had the audacity to send another one this morning, when his hair was adorably everywhere, practically taking up the whole photo, and pouting his stupidly chapped yet kissable lips, and those gorgeous eyes going all wide and what not. It’s like he wanted Evan to die. It was a total sneak attack and fully not appreciated. (Evan would deny it till the day he died, but he did save the photo to his phone.)

 

“What’s got you pouting this early in the m-morning?” Jeremy yawned out as he walked up behind Evan and plopped his head on Evan’s. Just because his stupid step-brother was taller than him, didn’t mean he had to remind Evan of it all the time.

 

“I’m not pouting.” Evan was indeed pouting and that pout only deepened as he tried to shove Jeremy off of him but the boy was like some unholy lovechild of an octopus and koala.

 

“Yesssss you are!” Jeremy sang as he held on tight to Evan.

 

“Ugggghhhhhhhhhhh.” Evan groaned as he gave in to the weird hug thing that was happening. He bit his lip as he debated with himself the pros and cons and telling Jeremy the situation, he was in but he knew he wanted to talk to someone about it. Jared was an automatic no because he could already imagine Jared saying ‘Go for it, then go suck hot topics dick.’ That was his go to thing to say whenever Evan got a crush, ‘suck their dick.’ It was gross and Evan hated it but that was just how Jared was. He briefly thought about talking to his mom about it but that was another no because she would just tell him to audition and then get hopeful and then be disappointed when he said he didn’t want to. He really didn’t want to deal with that. So maybe Jeremy was the best option? “Actually…um.”

 

“What’s up dude?” Jeremy asked as he finally let go of Evan in favor and sitting by him on his bed.

 

His sweater was going to become worn at the bottom if he kept fiddling with it the way he always did. It was a horrid habit, but it wasn’t so easy to get rid of. He was getting better at it but not always. “So, uh…. something happened my first night at the theater.”

 

“Does it have anything to do with Connor?”

 

Evan's neck popped from the speed of him turning to look at Jeremy. “How-How did you know?” He watched as Jeremy guffawed and held his stomach.

 

“Dude I got him to take you your dinner.”

 

“Oh…yeah. I remember him saying something like that.”

 

“But anyways, what happened dude? Nothing bad right?”

 

Jeremy’s smile dimmed to a serious look full of concern and Evan really couldn’t have asked for a better brother. He shook his head which made Jeremy sigh a sigh of relief. Big breath in, and big breath out, just like his therapist instructed, he was nervous, but he knew he could trust Jeremy, he was even waiting for Evan to collect his thoughts, which was super sweet. They both knew it took awhile for the other to get their thoughts collected when they were nervous, so they had no problem waiting till the other was ready to talk.

 

“So, um, Connor kind of,,,maybe…sort of…heard me…s-sing?”

 

“Sing?”

 

“Sing,”

 

“You can sing?”

 

Evan went full turtle and trying to hide his head between his shoulders as best he could. He would have pulled his shirt over his head to complete the look, but he really didn’t want to ruin the sweater he was wearing. His mom had made it for him for his bar mitzvah, and she added onto it every year until he stopped growing. It wasn’t really well made and their was loose frays everywhere since him mom hadn’t really tried knitting till that time, and the yarn she used wasn’t all the same color nor texture but he loved it. So he knew he should stop trying to be a turtle and just be Evan and tell his brother but honestly? Being a turtle sounded better at the moment.

 

“Evaaaaaaaaan,” his brother whined and tried to push his shoulders down. “You can’t go turtle, and you can’t leave me hanging! What-What do you mean you sing? And what does it matter to Connor? Did he say you suck? If he did I’ll whoop his ass!”

 

Evan couldn’t help but giggle at his brother’s dramatics and finally came out of his “shell.” He pushed Jeremy’s hands away and smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure Connor could beat you in a fight Jer.”

 

Jeremy puffed out his chest and put on his most determined face he could pull without automatically laughing, “No-No way! I could totally open a can of whoop ass on him!”

 

“Open a can of whoop ass? Who-Who even says that?” Evan snorted as he grabbed his stomach and put a hand over his mouth hoping it would help him not snort, there was no such luck especially when Jeremy joined in on the laughter.

 

“Okay but seriously, yeah, Connor would win in a fight. I’m not the most cord-coordinated person ever. But anyways, what happened?” Jeremy asked after they had settled down a bit.

 

“Well, ever since Connor heard me sing…he, he wants me to audition for the musical. An-and I can’t do that! But like, a part of me re-really wants to.” Evan rambled. “Plus. I don’t wan-want to disappoint Connor. I just. I don’t know what to do Jer.”

 

Arms came around his shoulders and his face was pulled into Jeremy’s neck, he gave into the hug and whined. “Dude, I have never heard you sing but if Connor wants you to j-join the musical then you must be good. He rarely gives out compliments, and if you sucked, he would tell you. That’s just the kind of guy he is, and there is no way that Connor could ever be-be disappointed in you.”

 

“But what if he is? What if I audition and ma-make a complete fool of myself? How do you do it Jer?” Evan muffled into Jeremy’s shirt.

 

“I p-promise he won’t be.” Jeremy huffed out before pushing Evan away just enough to see his face.

 

Evan gave him a watery smile. “Y-You can’t promise that dork.”

 

“Well I just did!”

 

Evan stared at Jeremy and remembered all the shows he had seen him in, even before they became brothers. How Jeremy was a completely different person on stage. He would never admit it, but he had always looked up to Jeremy. When he had heard the actor speaking in an interview about his anxiety but how he loved theater and how he didn’t want his anxiety to take that away from him. “Seriously…h-how do you get up on stage? How do you not let your anxiety keep you back?”

 

“Honestly? It did at first. I wouldn’t have even been in a play, despite wanting to, if Christine and I never met. I always loved theater, but I had th-the same fears you did. I-I didn’t want to be bullied. I didn’t want to fail, and I was so sure I would.” Jeremy sighed out as he leaned on the wall Evan’s bed rested on. “But I somehow convinced myself that it wasn’t me onstage, I was whatever character I was playing, and that helped a lot. There is also the fact I had a lot of support.”

 

“I…I think I want to audition.” Evan admitted in a small voice.

 

Jeremy beamed at him and gave him a bear hug. “We could audition together!”

 

“You were gonna audition anyways!”

 

“Yeah but now I get to audition with you! Mom and Dad are going to be so happy!”

 

Evan couldn’t help but smile and laugh at Jeremy’s enthusiasm, because he was laughing he failed to notice Jeremy recording Evan laughing and sending the video to Connor.

(I'm working on a cover for this fic! If you want to see it it's on my instagram!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are very much appreciated! If you guys want to talk or scream at me about this fic or any others my tumblr url is Goggles-McGee and my instagram (art account) is mcgee_gogglesmcgee


	14. God I think i got it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the brothers both receive some good news!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short update ^~^' Next one i'll try to make longer though! I made a cover for the fic and I don't really know how to add art on here so here's a link to it on my Instagram --> https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv29IH_nnzE/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=7zgwm49ugpt5 
> 
> I would love it if you checked it out!

Jeremy and Evan had been sitting in their room, both looking at their phones but desperately trying to look like they weren’t. They either would or wouldn’t be getting calls to know if they got a part in Cinderella. Jeremy kept glancing at Evan because well, Evan wasn’t used to this, so Evan was freaking out a lot more than Jeremy. In fact he had been for the past week that auditions went on. Connor had even texted Jeremy to ask how Evan was doing since he wasn’t really answering any texts and Jeremy knew why. He didn’t want to disappoint Connor, since Connor had so much faith in him. Evan didn’t have to say anything because it was written all over his face.

 

After yet another glance at his brother, Jeremy shook his head and returned his focus to his game of Overwatch, he was playing with Rich, Michael, Jake, Jared, and Brooke, his usual team. He could hear Evan biting at his nails once again, if he kept that up he'd start to bleed again, and then he would panic, and neither one of them needed panic at the moment.

 

“You wanna play?” Jeremy asked as he tried to make D. Va dodge an oncoming attack.

 

The biting stopped, “I'm-I'm not really good at video games.”

 

“Aw come on that's not true.”

 

“Ha! Yeah, no, Evan is trash.” Jared's voice boomed from the speakers. “Pure trash.”

 

“Love you too Jared.” Evan grumbled as he sat himself down in his own office chair and pulled himself closer to watch the match. Jeremy rolled his eyes at Jared though he couldn’t see him.

 

“Dude, you know I love you, but you fucking suck at video games. The only games you’re half decent at are those hidden object grandpa games and dating sims. And dating sims gives you anxiety so really, you’re only good at those grandpa games.” Jared grumbled. Jeremy felt no shame in laughing when he died. He knew how much dating sims could be stressful. You want a certain ending? You have to get every choice just right, or at least a majority. So then you’re sitting there freaking out because what should you choose???? What if the option you want to choose is the wring one and then you die? What if the answer you choose leads you down a different path? One you weren’t prepared for? Yeah, no thank you. He’s with Evan on this one. Though he did have to admit he loved Monster Prom no matter how stressful dating sims could be, that game would always have a special place in his heart.

 

Him and Evan had even played it together, it made him laugh every time because Evan only went after one monster and that was the fiery demon boy Damien, and he always chose to play as Oz. Jeremy preferred to romance Scott, and he always chose to play as Frankie so he really couldn’t judge Evan’s choices when his were just as much singular. He remembers the one night they tried to get every secret ending possible. They only got four. It still counted as a victory to them though, so they celebrated by making cookies. Evan suggested the cookies rather than the cake Jeremy had wanted to but the cookies came out great, so it was a win/win either way.

 

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a phone going off. Immediately him and Evan jumped up and raced to their beds to see if it was their phones ringing. He threw his already messy blankets off the bed only to hear a loud thunk, he really had to stop sleeping with his phone, he’s already broken two phones that way. He sorted through the blankets and found his phone, which wasn’t ringing. Evan was quiet, and Evan was never quiet. Not even when he slept!

 

Jeremy looked over at his brother to see him holding his phone, which was still ringing by the way, and just staring at it. “Evan? Answer the phone dude.”

 

“J-Jer, it’s the theater! What do I do? Whatdoido?”

 

“Answer it.” Jeremy said in a soft voice. He was excited for Evan but the other boy had to calm down before he sent himself into a panic attack.

 

“Right. Right.” Evan mumbled before he answered the phone with a tiny, “Hell-Hello?”

 

It was fascinating seeing Evan go from pale as a ghost, to red and happy, back to pale and scared, but only to do a last-minute switch to red and happy. He waited with bated breath for Evan to finish his call. He was practically vibrating as he waited.  Finally, Evan hung up and looked up to stare at Jeremy with a look of awe.

 

“Well?”

 

“I got in. I got in! Jer! I’m going to be Cinderella!” Evan shouted and laughed. Jeremy joined in and then they both paused when they heard several other shouts of joy. They both turned and looked back at Jeremy’s computer where the voices were coming from. He forgot all about the game, but everyone was shouting their congratulations to Evan. Then more ringing. This time it was Jeremy’s phone, he answered as quickly as he could and nearly punched himself with how fast he brought his phone up to his ear.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey kiddo.” Jeremy recognized the voice of his agent.

 

“Hey. Good news I hope?” He asked nervously as he played with a strand of his hair.

 

“You know it! You’re in Reyes Cinderella! You will be playing Jean-Michel!”

 

The conversation carried on but all Jeremy could think about was that he got a part and so did his brother and how awesome that was. He decided they deserved Heidi’s tacos for dinner and cookies and cake! If Evan was up to making those sweets with him. He turned to ask Evan if that sounded good but when he looked at his brother, all he saw was a tomato. Like, holy shit, Evan was so red!

 

“Hey, Ev, you good?”

 

Evan gave out a squeak as he continued to stare at his phone with wide eyes before he made some garbled attempts at English and shoved his phone in Jeremy’s chest. Jeremy huffed but dutifully grabbed the phone to see what replaced his brother with the human definition of flustered. He saw there was a notification for a text message, and it was from Connor, so he opened it and wow. Jeremy didn’t need to see Connor flirting with his brother but that’s what he got. He couldn’t help but laugh which made Evan garble some more flustered English at him and smack him on his arm.

 

Connor’s text read: Hey there Cinderella, guess who’s your Prince Charming? ;)

 

WITH A WINKY FACE! Connor never did emojis! Like ever, Jeremy had been convinced he didn’t know what they were but here was the proof that he had been wrong. So all he could do was continue laughing at his poor brother who continued to blush and frown at him as he tried to take back his phone.

 

“I shouldn’t have shown you!” Evan screeched as he tried to grab the phone from Jeremy who held it up higher, Evan jumped to grab it but ended up tackling Jeremy to the floor.

 

“What are you boys doing?” Heidi’s voice asked from the kitchen.

 

“Nothing!” They both shouted in unison before going back to wrestling for the phone. Evan eventually eon the phone back and cradled it to his chest while looking at Jeremy in what could possibly the cutest face of betrayal. Jeremy just laughed some more and took a picture of Evan to send to the group chat later. First he had an emo boy he had to tease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day! If you ever want to scream at me about this fic or just want to talk my Tumblr url is Goggles-McGee!


End file.
